“Yessir,” Piranha said. “It won’t happen again, sir.”
“Kindergarten is over,” Cliff said. “Rule number one: do not fire unless necessary. Rule number two: if you fire, dammit, make it count.”
Their truck finally parked at the edge of a warehouse district looming gray and brown, streets glistening from either water or glass—Piranha couldn’t tell which. As it got later in the afternoon, he could see less and less. He needed to take off his shades for more light, but he couldn’t show his irritated eyes while the other guys were around.
Thanks to his piss-poor showing as a shooter, nobody wanted him to keep watch or cover other scav crews. No problem; he hadn’t missed that girl on purpose, but it had worked out for the best. He and Terry had been sent inside time and again. It was the best job for picking the choice loot—although, technically, the crew shared it, custom was dictated by the old “finders keepers” rule.
So far, in the burned-out shells of an office supply store, a boating showroom, and a hardware store, he’d loaded at least eight bags to cram in the truck. They’d found rubber bands, glue, motor oil, fishing supplies, hammers and nails (highly valued), batteries of all sizes (very highly valued), lightbulbs, and building materials—everything except contact lenses.
He and Terry had autonomy, disappearing behind shelves, so Piranha had been able to keep the other guys from noticing that he could barely count his fingers in front of his face. He couldn’t read labels, so he pressed his face close to the shelves to try to see what he could before he shoveled it into his bag. Sometimes he didn’t see first, and he ended up lectured for wasting space with junk.
But they were getting through it, and they hadn’t found many corpses. So far, no freaks had surprised him, hiding in corners. A casual succession of miracles had kept the two of them alive.
“We’re done here—one more to go!” Bobbie called into the hardware store. “You guys come on out!”
Piranha cursed. He didn’t have a wristwatch, but the waning light told him it was getting late. This was a day run, so they would drive back out to Threadville before nightfall. His last chance was vanishing with the sun.
“Hear that?” Terry said, suddenly beside him. “Grab your bag. Whatcha got?”
“Hell if I know,” Piranha said.
“We’re coming up on the last stop, P,” Terry said, hushed. “I haven’t seen anything like what you want. No eye doctor. No pharmacy. We better just say what—”
“No,” Piranha said. “If they figure it out now, we’re screwed.”
Piranha had never had a friend like Terry, who was willing to back him so far, against his better judgment. Threadville’s scavengers had spent months leaving survivors behind, and a few comments made Piranha wonder if Cliff had put a few persistent “strays” out of their misery. I’m about to get T killed, Piranha thought.
They lugged their bags back out to the truck, where Cliff and the watchers hoisted them into the bed and the passenger cabin that was bigger than it looked. Piranha trailed Terry’s bright red down jacket, staying close to him, avoiding obstructions, trying not to trip or give himself away. He felt like they’d been out a week.
“We’ll drive down thirty yards and park outside that side door,” Cliff said, pointing, and Piranha tried to follow his shadowy pointing arm. A mammoth beige blur waited down the street. Another warehouse?
“Last half hour,” Cliff said. “You’re going back in, Brokeback.”
“Brokeback? What?”
Cliff chuckled. “Everybody gets a nickname around here. And ya’ll are really tight.”
The other guys laughed, and Piranha’s face burned. I’m only allowed to shoot freaks, he reminded himself.
Cliff and his most experienced scav, a thick guy nicknamed Meat (Piranha didn’t ask), stayed behind to guard the loot with the driver. It was a newbie run: the kid, Bobbie, and the other newbie, Riley, walked with them toward the blur at the end of the block. The truck sped past them.
“Don’t get lost!” Cliff called. “Or you’ll miss your ride!”
“Jerk,” Riley muttered, practically speaking Piranha’s thoughts.
“He’s not so bad,” Bobbie said.
“This place was picked over months ago,” Riley said. “He’s gotta be kidding.”
The blur was only bigger, no more distinct. He saw large loading doors; they were approaching a huge building from the rear. Definitely not a doctor’s office. Piranha tugged Terry’s jacket: What is it?
“Sorry, man,” Terry whispered. “It’s just Walmart.”
Piranha’s heart leaped, and he grinned.
Until the smell hit him.
In Terry’s experience, a dose of good luck meant the other kind was on its way. They’d finally found somewhere that might have contact lenses, according to Piranha, so Walmart, of course, was where something would go wrong.
The last bay door had been yawning wide open and the store’s front windows were smashed, so there were sure to be freaks inside. The store smelled of rotten citrus and human waste. Makeshift camps lay throughout the store; tents and blankets draped across the aisles. The mini camps were mostly empty. In others, lumps under the blankets were no doubt corpses. Unless the bundles moved, Terry didn’t bother them. It would be a great place for pirates to hide, but they didn’t have time for a sweep. They had to find the pharmacy.
Terry had convinced Riley and Bobbie to take the rear of the store, since Piranha said the pharmacy and other specialty departments were more likely to be at the front. So far, nothing moved except dirty sheets flapping in the store’s breeze. Piranha stumbled into a shelf, tumbling a pyramid of empty tins cans to the floor. He cursed, fluently.
“Shhhhh,” Terry said from behind his handkerchief. “Don’t call the freaks over.”
Sure enough, was that movement from a couple of aisles away? Someone scurrying? Maybe a pirate or a refugee? The sound was gone. Nothing stirred.
Riley was right; the store had been picked over like a chicken bone. A few torn pieces of clothing were scattered on the floor, but the clothes racks were empty except for hangers, shelves had been pulled down, refrigerated cases stripped of everything except old food wrappers and rotten perishables. The aisles were so unrecognizable, it was hard to orient himself until he remembered to look up at the signs.
Checkout, one said far across the store.
Vision Center, said one beside it.
Terry grabbed Piranha’s arm, pulling him. “You were right!” he said. “There’s an eye doctor!”
“If there’s anything left,” Piranha said.
Cliff probably wouldn’t be happy if they came back with only bags full of eye supplies, but Terry didn’t care. He was going to grab everything in sight.
The optometrist’s nook had fared better than most parts of the store. The wood paneling was intact, there were still two chairs to indicate where patients had sat, and a few shelves still hung on the walls where the eyeglass displays had been. Only a few cracked pairs of empty frames were left on the ground.
Piranha fumbled around like a madman, flinging drawers and cabinets open, crawling on the floor to fling papers aside. Cursing as he worked. Panicking.
Terry noticed a gray curtain in the rear of the enclave, pulled askew.
“In the back?” Terry said.
Piranha leaped to his feet. “Yeah, let’s check it out—”
“Slow down,” Terry said, yanking his arm to stop him. “Don’t charge in.”
They crept toward the doorway, one on either side. Terry forgot that Piranha couldn’t see, expecting him to move ahead. The storeroom was small and dark, a third the size of the outer office. High cabinets to his left, above a sink, remained closed.
“Hey, P, I think—”
The low moan sounded beside Terry’s right ear. He smelled the freak behind him before he turned around. He smelled rotten oranges, the breeze a blessing.
“Watch it!” Piranha screamed.
Terry whirle
d around and backed far enough into the storeroom to raise his rifle. The freak moaned, took a tortured step toward him. A shambler! If he’d been a runner …
“Don’t shoot!” Piranha hissed.
The freak was wearing a doctor’s smock with the name Raul on his identification badge. He wore round-frame glasses, but his face was a bed of red moss. Terry’s finger throbbed from desire to shoot; he fought every self-protective instinct he had. The shambler was close, and he didn’t know if another one was behind him. They might have walked into a nest!
Piranha swung his rifle butt like an ax, clubbing the freak in the back of the head.
The freak turned away from Terry, toward Piranha, startled. Piranha’s second blow caught the freak across the temple. This time, Raul fell.
Terry realized he was gasping for breath. A foot closer, and the freak would have had him! He ran through the rest of the storeroom, dizzy with adrenaline, looking for any other signs of life. The room was empty.
“We’re in—” Terry said.
Then, gunshots.
Not one shot, or two. The far-off crackling sound was like a string of fireworks. The shots were coming from outside the store, not inside. If Cliff was firing, the truck must be under siege. Six shots. Seven shots. Eight.
The dinner bell was ringing.
Cliff’s voice suddenly blared from Terry’s radio: “We got company—and lots of it. Get back NOW.”
Terry fumbled with the radio. His hand was shaking slightly. “Copy,” he said.
“Go!” Piranha said. “Get out! I’ll be okay from here.”
“Bite me,” Terry said.
Breathing hard, they both flung open the cabinets. Eye supplies rained on them. Cleansers. Wipes. Eye drops.
“Saline solution!” Terry said, excited. He shoved at least twenty small clear bottles into his bag.
“Contacts … contacts … contacts …” Piranha was whispering. “Come on …”
There were so many gunshots outside, Terry wondered if Cliff was facing off against pirates instead of freaks. Or both. Another snapping round of gunfire came from another direction—inside the store. Riley and Bobby had found trouble too.
Terry eyed the narrow doorway. There was no other way out of the storeroom. If they got penned in …
Two large wall-mounted cabinets in a far corner were locked. While gunfire raged outside, Piranha pounded at them with his rifle stock, and one of the doors finally fell open. They pried open the second door.
Rows and rows of neatly stacked tiny boxes.
“Yes!” Piranha said. “Thank God for Bausch and Lomb! I need a fourteen minus-twelve, man. Anything close.”
Terry tumbled every box he saw into his bag, but most of the numbers were nowhere near twelve. Lots of fives, sixes, sevens, eights. A few nines …
“I can’t believe this,” Terry whispered. “They’re not high enough.”
“You better be at the door, Brokeback, or you’re out of luck!” the radio warned.
Piranha reached up high for the last few boxes, bringing them close to his face to try to read. When he took off his sunglasses, his eyes were as red as a freak’s.
“Got it!” he said. “Elevens and twelves. This is as high as they go here!”
Piranha jammed fistfuls of boxes into his bag.
“We’re coming!” Terry told Cliff over the radio.
They ran.
Five dead freaks lying just inside the bay doors told them what to expect outside.
The truck had changed directions, facing the other way, all on board. Everyone except the driver was firing at the shamblers and runners converging on the truck from every alley and street in sight, dozens. At least twenty stilled freaks littered the alley like twisted marionettes.
As soon as Terry and Piranha stepped outside, the truck started driving away, picking up speed.
“Get over here!” Cliff bellowed, waving.
There wasn’t much in Terry’s bag, but it was slowing him down. The truck was moving too fast for a jog or a sprint. Terry was running full out, his legs pumping. He felt Piranha behind him, but if Piranha stumbled over something, then what?
No time to look over his shoulder, but Terry heard runners behind them, tireless feet pounding against the asphalt, matching them step for step. Gaining.
And the truck was farther away. Bullets whizzed hot in the air as the scavs fired at the freaks giving chase. Cliff and Riley held out their hands over the edge of the bed door, in impossible distance. Terry saw their mouths moving, saw the guns smoke and spark, but he heard only his heartbeat and the stampeding feet of the freaks.
He touched the truck’s chrome. Felt an iron hand wrap around his, tugging.
Terry was flung face-first into the truck, bumping his head against something hard in a burlap bag. He heard Piranha’s heavy panting, and then Piranha tumbled on top of him, knocking his head again. But they had made it!
Terry peered back for his first good look at what they had left behind. The street was filled with runners, like a marathon. There had been a nest nearby—maybe as many as there had been at the Barracks. If they’d gotten close enough, the freaks could have pulled them all out of the truck. The team had waited until it was almost too late.
“Holy …” Terry whispered.
Cliff, Meat, and the others were patting them on the back.
“Can’t shoot worth a damn, but you can run!” Meat said. “You see that, Cliff?”
“Yeah, they can move,” Cliff said. “Let’s see what they almost got us killed for.”
Here it comes, Terry thought.
Cliff reached into Piranha’s bag. “What’s this? Contact lenses?” The Gold Shirt grinned at both of them. “Jackpot, newbie! Do you know how much these are worth?”
Terry and Piranha bumped fists.
Terry never, ever wanted to go scavenging again.
Fourteen
8:30 p.m.
Hey!” A man’s voice, sharp in the empty moonlit street.
Kendra jumped, her heart racing, and Hipshot barked beside her. The steady clip-clopping of horse hooves closed in on her from behind, and her body went rigid. A Gold Shirt in a suede cowboy hat rode up, shotgun ready, and Kendra thought of posses and lynch mobs.
“Yessir?” she tried to say, but her voice caught in her throat as a squeak. She wondered what law she’d broken, feeling tiny beneath the man on the horse.
But the Gold Shirt wasn’t looking at her. He shined an impossibly bright flashlight a few yards behind her. Another man stood nearly hidden in the shadow from a closed fruit stand’s awning. He had his own dog on a leash—a much bigger dog. His dog looked half wolf, half Sasquatch.
“What’s your business?” the Gold Shirt demanded.
“I’m just … taking a walk,” the man’s gravelly voice said, an obvious lie.
“Then take it somewhere else. You over at Marv’s camp?”
Suddenly, the man sounded concerned. “No reason to bother Marv with it—”
“In Threadville, we don’t walk the streets drunk. We don’t follow girls in the dark. I’m writing you up. Move on before I get creative.”
Follow girls in the dark? Kendra’s heart jumped. Was that true?
The man walked on, hurrying past Kendra with his dog and a sack over his shoulder. He reeked of alcohol. His dirty skin smelled like a pirate’s.
Suddenly, the bright light was on Kendra. She shielded her eyes. Hipshot growled, and Kendra pulled his frayed rope leash close.
“What’s your business?” the Gold Shirt said, his voice no more gentle.
Kendra pointed toward the corner. Two blocks hadn’t sounded far in the crowded dining hall fifteen minutes ago, but now it was after eight. Lights out. The streets suddenly seemed ominous. “I’m just looking for my friend. They said he’d be—”
“Then hurry up and get where you’re going. Don’t walk alone after dark.”
“Was he following me?”
Instead of answering, he said, “
Where’s your sidearm?”
“I … don’t have my own yet.”
“Get one. Keep moving.”
Kendra didn’t like his bossy manner, but she didn’t argue. She made a kissing sound for Hipshot, and they kept a steady pace toward the building on the corner. The Gold Shirt didn’t say anything else, but his horse walked a slow pace just behind her. Once she had made it to the front door, the Gold Shirt rode away. Kendra had been happy for his protection, but she was glad when he was gone.
The Hungry Dog was on the far end of Main Street, a corner bar left over from old times. Aside from the wood planks nailed up where picture windows had been, the bar probably looked the same, an old-fashioned English pub with a faded crest over the door. Well-fed stray dogs loitered in the doorway and just outside. Hipshot had learned to keep his curiosity to himself, so he stood stoically while four other dogs sniffed him. When he got annoyed and nipped at a German shepherd mix, the other pooches left him alone.
Thank goodness. Kendra had enough trouble with human politics.
Even with Hipshot trotting at her side, Kendra knew she shouldn’t be out alone at night. But the returning scavs at the dining hall had reported that Terry and Piranha were probably at the bar, a rite of initiation.
The Twins and Jackie were off having their own adventure, and all Sonia and Ursalina wanted to do was plot about how to ingratiate themselves to Wales and Threadville. Sonia had been eager to sift through the clothes she’d acquired that day, trying to find a way to look cute. Did she care that Piranha was half blind?
Without Terry, Kendra felt alone again. The intensity of the loneliness surprised her, a heavy cloak that had robbed the taste of food from her mouth. She didn’t know how to tell if it was love or just mourning, but she needed to be with Terry, even if it meant walking at night to a bar full of rowdy strangers.
No Credit was spray-painted on the wood outside the door. No Cash, Either. 2 Drink Limit.
The bar was loud enough to be heard for blocks, spewing off-key, off-beat music. With one guy playing the upright piano, a woman strumming an acoustic guitar, a teenage boy on fiddle, and a long-haired person of ambiguous gender pounding the drum kit, Kendra almost recognized the music. Between songs, the crowd clapped and cheered like they were at a U2 concert. The intro to “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” was so bad that Kendra was afraid to hear the rest.
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