by Sarah Gray
Chapter 5
THE ROAD AHEAD is scattered with abandoned vehicles. There’s a huge unmarked truck on its side, and slide marks gouged deep into the bitumen. It’s taken out a huge billboard; the pieces now shattered all over the road, mingling with scuttling rubbish: chocolate wrappers, newspaper pages, plastic bags, stuff like that.
We pick our way through the vehicles, cautious and quiet, and Trouble hangs back a bit. Up ahead another truck is broken, split in two by a bus this time, and sports gear spills into the middle of the road like a strange sort of art piece. Trouble jogs over. Liss and I watch him go but we keep moving. We’re not a team, we’re all just heading in the same direction. And since so far he hasn’t asked for anything… I’ll allow him to follow us for now.
Trouble comes back with a baseball bat. He lifts it up to show us, and as we’re walking he swings the bat and makes a visor with his hand, pretending to watch his imaginary ball fly.
Liss giggles. I haven’t heard that sound in… forever. I look back at Trouble. It’s like the glittering smile never leaves his face. He just casually strolls through a messed up world, somehow unaffected. Can people be that strong?
We’re about to cross under the freeway. The off-ramp is really narrow so I’m steering us in the direction of the on-ramp. I finish my can of sliced pears, juice and all, and leave the tin on top of a car.
Liss tugs on my arm. “I need to pee.”
“Yeah me too. Well… go on. You know the drill.”
Liss glances at Trouble.
“Oh. Right,” I say.
Trouble stops and turns around, the baseball bat slung over his shoulder. He raises his eyebrows as if to say what’s up?
This is going to be interesting. “Ah… we need to go to the toilet.”
A crease forms in his brow.
“Ok,” I say, pointing ahead. “You go on. We’ll find you.” I tap my watch. “In one minute.” I hold up my index finger.
Liss is frowning, her head tipped like she’s contemplating a solution. “It sounds like you’re trying to play hide and seek with him,” she says.
“Well, I don’t know.” I slap my hands against my thighs. “I’m trying.”
Trouble glances between us.
“We. Need. To. Pee.” Liss says, very slowly, enunciating every word.
“Liss, he’s not slow.”
“I know that,” she shoots back.
“Have you got any chalk left?”
Liss rummages in her bag and pulls out a stick. I take it and start drawing on the pavement.
Liss and Trouble look at it sideways. “What is that?” Liss finally says.
I glare up at her. “A toilet, obviously.”
“It looks like a planet. Like Saturn.”
“Fine.” I give her the chalk. “You draw a toilet then.”
Liss scribbles something and when she’s done I point to both of us, and then the drawing.
Trouble blinks and then nods enthusiastically. He points to his chest and points away.
“Yes.” I nod. Man, this communication thing really keeps you on your toes.
Trouble keeps walking on, slowly, and Liss and I duck behind a car.
When we catch up to Trouble and I steer us to the on-ramp. Here the cars are jammed in so tight we have to clamber over them. I go first, picking out a path that keeps us away from the visible rotting bodies in cars. Liss doesn’t need to see that kind of stuff, if it can be avoided.
The on-ramp is long and flowing, closer to the freeway it clears up. The freeway is huge, five lanes across on either side, separated by a double tensioned-wire fence with thick metal posts. We stick to the concrete wall on the left and walk towards the city.
I stay in front and keep an eye out for movement, always making sure I’ve got a plan if something jumps out at us. Behind I can hear Liss talking to Trouble. He seems very interested in the conversation, always smiling and nodding and making agreeable noises, even though he doesn’t understand a word.
I sling my bag around my front and rummage through, looking for the Chupa Chups. I pick out a strawberry-and-cream one and hold out the bag to Liss. We stop while she fusses over the flavours.
“Which one do you want, Trouble?” she asks.
“Liss.”
“What? Why can’t he have one? It’s just a lollypop and we have heaps more.”
She’s right. We do have more… but I can’t have him becoming reliant on us… even if he seems to be a cheery tag along bodyguard for the moment. And I don’t remember Liss ever being this generous to me in normal times.
“Fine.” I turn the bag to Trouble. “Want one?”
He looks from the bag to me and then does this long bow.
“It’s just a lollypop,” I say, shaking the bag in his direction.
He takes one and I put the rest away.
It’s cooler today, the ground is dark from rain and I’m able to wear my jacket without boiling to death. The sky above is thick with clouds but the glare is still biting. I watch the abandoned cars as we pass and wonder where all these people went. Where did they run? Were they infected, now roaming in packs just looking for a feed?
On the other side of the road are huge factories, all quiet now. The grey tin buildings loom over rough grassy expanses. And on our side is one of those noise blocking concrete walls with a strip of bright green plastic at the top.
I see movement up ahead so I drop down behind a car and signal to Liss. She stops and crouches. Thankfully Trouble copies. He seems to only have two expressions: super happy or super confused.
I give Liss the quiet sign and we peer up through the car windows. On the other side of the divider, three infected people lumber along, heading away from us. I look back at Trouble to see what his reaction is but he’s just watching quietly, the baseball bat sitting loosely in his hand. All we can do is wait until they pass.
It makes me wonder where exactly these infected people are going. They’re dead right? There’s no food in sight… so what drives them? Are they like little heat seeking missiles that can’t stop until they find a target?
They pass our point and when their backs are to us I signal to Liss: single file and follow me.
I keep low this time, in case there are more. We creep along the concrete in silence. To my surprise Trouble copies us perfectly. He hasn’t done anything crazy or reckless yet and I kind of just wish he just would already, so we can get over whatever this little thing is, this teaming up buddy-buddy thing. Sooner or later everyone lets you down. I’d rather it be sooner in this case. Before Liss gets too attached.
My back is aching after two hours of crouch walking. We haven’t seen any more infected people so I stand up straight. My spine cracks and I stretch my shoulders. Liss starts talking at Trouble again.
At six o’clock I stop walking and stare at the orange sun. It’ll start getting dark at seven, so if we find a car to sleep in then we can have dinner and be tucked away nice and safe by nightfall.
Liss stands next to me. “Which one?” she asks.
The ones on the edge are more favourable for a good getaway, in case we need to escape fast. I wander up to a blue… something… I’m not really a car person and I don’t recognise the badges on this one. But it’s big and roomy and free of dead bodies so I open the doors on our side to air it out. “What do you think?” I say. “Home away from home?”
Liss nods her approval. “I’m hungry.” She takes off her backpack and sits cross-legged on the side of the road. Trouble sits down too and I take off my backpack, scanning the distance. Just before I sit down I realise I’m about to complete this mini circle, and it feels like I’m back at high school, sitting with friends in the yard. I pull out the plastic bag of tins and Liss picks through them.
“What do you want, Flo?”
I look over and pass her the can opener. “Um… I’ll have the… ooh, baked beans with mini sausages.”
“What would you like, Trouble?”
“Liss…
”
Liss gives me a stern look. “He needs to eat too. It’s not like we paid for this stuff.”
I glare back thinking I almost paid with my life, but I lift my hands in defeat. “Whatever.”
“Ravioli? Peas?”
“Give him the peas.”
“Good choice. And I’ll have the corn.”
Liss sets about opening the cans. She hands Trouble the peas first but he looks shocked and shakes his head. He points at Liss.
“This is mine and that’s Flo’s.” She points at him. “This is for you.”
Trouble looks over at me like he’s asking for permission, so I nod.
Reluctantly he takes the peas but when the can is in his hand he starts smiling and bowing and nodding like there aren’t enough movements he can do to thank us.
Liss giggles. I shake my head and put some beans in my mouth to cover my almost smile. We eat in silence for a while, since Trouble isn’t much of a conversationalist and Liss is too busy shovelling sweetcorn into her gob.
When she finishes she says, “I like corn.”
“I didn’t notice.” I find one of those little pretend sausages swimming in the baked beans mix. “Want a sausage?”
Liss leans over and eats it right off my spoon. “So…”
I know that tone.
“Didn’t I tell you to stop asking how long it’ll take?”
Liss pouts and crosses her arms. “Did you like your peas, Trouble?” Liss points at the peas and gives him a thumbs-up.
Trouble breaks into a wide smile and replies with a thumbs-up.
“How come he smiles a lot?” Liss asks.
I shrug. “Because he wants to.”
“How come you don’t?”
Ugh. Kids. “Because I don’t want to.”
“Ok.”
The sky dims a shade, like a dying florescent light bulb. Trouble takes something out of his back pocket and opens the box. It’s a pack of playing cards. He shuffles them quickly and looks at us both. He fans the entire pack out and holds them towards Liss. She looks at me.
“Go on.” I say. “Pick one.”
Liss furrows her brow and deliberates over the choice. Finally she removes one and looks at it. I lean in to see. It’s the ace of hearts.
Trouble nods at both of us then takes the card back. He slips it into the pile and splits the deck in two, doing one of those crazy fan shuffles. He closes his eyes for a few seconds, waves his hand over the deck like he’s doing magic and then offers the pack to Liss again.
She looks across at me. I shrug. Liss picks up the top card and slaps her hand over her mouth. She puts the card in my face. Ace of hearts, again.
“Whoa,” I say, leaning in for a proper look. “No way.”
“How did you do that?” she asks, like he’ll just be able to respond.
Trouble smiles so wide I think his face will split in two. Liss slaps the ground with quiet excitement and laughs. “Did you see that Flo?”
“I did.”
“It’s magic!”
I pull a smile. “Should we teach him something?” I hold out my hand and Trouble passes the cards. I split them into three even piles and hand them out. “We’ll teach him snap.”
Liss gives me one of those are you mad? looks. “Everyone knows snap.”
“Yeah but I bet it’s not called snap in Chinese, is it?”
Liss and I win the first couple of games until Trouble picks up on how to play. And man is he fast. Though I see him let Liss win a few games every now and then. She squeals with delight and Trouble laughs with a deep happy laugh. And I glance around to make sure we’re not attracting any unwanted attention.
We play until we run out of light and then Liss and I retire to our blue car. She stretches out on the back seat and I recline the front passenger seat as far as it goes. Trouble is in the red Honda behind us.
I tilt the rear view mirror so I can see into the back seat. Liss looks peaceful, like she’s forgotten all about this apocalypse business. I lay my head back and watch the twinkling stars out the window until I fall asleep.