by J. Thorn
At some point, Bowser woke up and joined us. Robinson introduced him to Aamod and Naima, and then filled him in on the latest group gossip. Diego and Luna, however, still slept on like champs. They must have been so worn out from hiking back to town.
I looked at my watch. Almost five thirty in the morning.
“When does the sun come up?” I asked, stealthily peering out of a window.
“Around six thirty or so,” Robinson replied.
Everyone eventually gathered in the living room, including Jax, who found a nice comfortable spot to lie on Bowser’s lap. Bowser had brought out the leftover potato salad from dinner, offered it to the group, but the only one who was hungry was him and the dog.
“Aamod, you never told me how you thought I’d help you find your wife,” Robinson asked.
“I didn’t know if you’d help me, help us,” Aamod said, gesturing at his daughter. “But you said you were assembling a group of survivors, and so I didn’t know where else to turn. I figured maybe you and your group would be willing to go to my house and help us look for her.”
“And by that you really mean … help deal with the threat?”
Aamod thought about the question for a moment. “I guess that would be fair to say.”
Robinson smirked. “No, that’s not fair to say. That’s the truth.”
Aamod shrugged. “So what if it is? We needed help, and you are a police officer.”
“I was a police officer, but the world is different now. There’s no calling for backup. These guys. Jimmy. Bowser. Peaches. They’re all the backup I have now. And I don’t think any of them want to risk their lives looking for a needle in a haystack. And neither do I.”
Aamod bowed his head.
“Not even during the day?” Naima asked.
Though I could tell Naima was trying to hold it together, she failed at masking the pain in her voice.
“Not even during the day,” Robinson answered.
Naima immediately got up and left the room.
“We don’t have much. You can’t blame us for trying,” Aamod said.
“I don’t. I know the importance of family. They mean everything, especially in uncertain times like these. I was even thinking of heading to New Orleans to look for my son.”
I perked up. “Really? When was this?”
Robinson stared up at the ceiling, looking lost in thought. “Last night. But I hadn’t made up my mind yet, Jimmy. That’s why I didn’t say anything.”
“Were you just gonna leave us behind?” Peaches asked.
“I hadn’t thought that far. Maybe. It’s my son … you know … my blood. I’d do anything for him.”
“And I’d do anything for my wife,” Aamod said.
“That’s why I don’t blame you for wanting to look for her. I know how you’re feeling. I’d give anything to see my boy one more time. But I think both of us might be too late.”
“You don’t know that,” I said. “We’re getting way ahead of ourselves here.”
“Maybe,” Robinson said. “I can’t think straight right now. It’s been a long night.”
Jax climbed into his dad’s lap and tried to cheer him up by licking his face. Robinson seemed to enjoy it.
“So what’s the deal?” Bowser asked. “We leaving at sunrise?”
“You can do whatever you want,” Robinson said.
“I’d like to check on my girl. Maybe she woke up.”
“Suit yourself.”
“Jimmy, you give me a ride again?”
“I guess I have to, since nobody else will,” I said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna take a leak.”
I didn’t really have to go to the bathroom. I just wanted to get away for a minute. I could feel a headache starting to come on, so I took some pills to calm it. I also put some clothes on, the same tan pants and light blue polo shirt I’d worn yesterday. Then I went into Robinson’s office to check on Olivia. As I was looking down at her sleeping soundly in her new bassinet, Peaches snuck up behind me.
She put a hand on my shoulder. “You know, whatever happens with the others, I hope we’ll stick together.”
“So do I,” I said, wondering what exactly she meant by stick together.
“I feel like you’re the only one I can really trust.” Our eyes connected in the dim candlelight. Then she smiled and said, “So don’t let me down.”
I smiled back. “No pressure.”
She joined me in watching Olivia sleep.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” she said.
“That depends.”
“Her parents. What if they’re waking up right now, at the hospital?”
“Could be.”
“Well, I hope it’s true.”
“Because you’re scared?”
“Well, yeah, but also because she deserves to grow up in a normal world.”
“I don’t know if I’d call the world we grew up in normal, but maybe that’s a good thing. Normal is boring, right?”
“Seriously though, how great would it be if we could reunite her with her parents?”
“It would be a relief, that’s for sure.”
“What would you do … I mean, if things really did go back to the way they were before?”
I thought about my life. My daily routine. Reading. Selling the occasional book, usually something with a shirtless man on the cover. Books with titles like The White Knight’s Long Sword. Eating junk food all day and watching the apocalypse on television, instead of being a part of it. My old, boring, predictable life. Safe. Comfortable.
What would I do if things went back to the way they were before?
I’d have to give it some thought and get back to her. Robinson began yelling my name from the other room.
“Jimmy, get in here now!”
I ran out of the office and back into the living room. Robinson was in the dining room with the others, watching as my grandma was having her second seizure of the night. Again, she was yanking at the handcuffs, no regard for the further damage she was doing to her wrists. I grabbed her arms and tried to hold her still, but the bandages I’d placed earlier had already come off and the bleeding began anew. She didn’t scream, moan, cry, or make any sound whatsoever. She had her mouth closed and her eyes open, locked in a dead stare.
Fifteen seconds later, it was all over.
Slowly, she started to calm down and regain a regular heart rate, but her wrists were left a bloody red and purple mess.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Robinson said. “We were just sitting in the living room and all of a sudden she started—”
“Freaking out,” Bowser succinctly added.
He was probably freaking out himself, having been asleep during the first go-round.
“Okay, that’s it,” I said. “We have to take off these handcuffs before it happens again.”
“I agree,” Robinson said, searching his pockets once more for the keys.
When he found them, he tossed them to me and I carefully unlocked the cuffs, trying to get as little of my grandma’s blood on me as possible. I set the bloody cuffs in the sink with Bowser’s dirty potato salad bowl and then began cleaning and re-bandaging my grandma’s wounds. She didn’t resist. For now, the psycho switch was turned to off.
“Grandma, would you like to lie down?”
No surprise. She didn’t answer me.
She may not have wanted to go lie down, but she did want to go somewhere.
Outside.
She got up from the dining room table and walked toward the front door. She didn’t hurry. She sort of glided along like she was sleepwalking.
“Where is she going?” Robinson asked.
I ran over and stood between her and the door, blocking the way out.
“No, I’m sorry, you can’t go outside right now,” I said. “It’s too dark. Maybe we can go for a walk later when the sun comes up. How does that sound?”
She had no idea what I was saying
. I was sure of it. But I needed to be as calm and soft-spoken as possible to lessen the chance she’d decide to strangle me again. She stood still for a moment looking confused, and then finally turned around and went for the back door. Again, she moved slow and without urgency. This time Robinson had to be the bad guy.
He leaned against the sliding glass door and simply shook his head.
Aamod and Naima watched the show from the comfort of the couch, blank-faced as ever. Bowser, on the other hand, had a crooked smile on his face, no doubt baffled by my grandma’s unusual actions. Glad somebody was amused.
I came up behind her, took her by the arm, and led her back into the dining room. After some cajoling, she finally sat back down and stayed put.
Good grandma.
I met up with Robinson and Peaches by the back door. “It’s not a side effect.”
“What then?” Robinson asked.
I glanced back at grandma. She was gazing into the burning candles just as I had earlier. Maybe the flames would lull her to sleep, as they had me.
“This isn’t gonna wear off,” I finally said. “She must have brain damage. She’ll never be the same.”
Peaches put her arms around me. “I’m sorry.”
“You know, as much as it hurt me to think of her dying in that coma, seeing her like this is much worse.” I continued looking at her. She was mesmerized by the fire—like a caveman witnessing it for the first time. “Why did she…?”
I walked away, unable to finish the thought that ripped at my heart.
Why did she have to wake up?
I took refuge in the bathroom, tears blurring my vision, a flood of feelings drowning me.
Pain. Embarrassment. Selfishness.
But mostly.
Feeling like a horrible grandson.
Chapter 30
Jax was barking when I came out of the bathroom, barking because the dining room table was on fire.
“Hey!” I yelled.
But everyone was already up and backing away, including my grandma. Everyone except Robinson, of course. He ran to the sink and attempted to put out the growing flames with water from the faucet; first with his bare hands, and then with some empty jugs he dug out from one of the cabinets. Luckily, the house ran on city water and not well water, which would have been useless without electricity to pump it.
The fire quickly engulfed most of the tablecloth, the flames climbing as high as a foot and a half.
“Could use a little help in here!” Robinson yelled.
I ran into the kitchen, through the billowing black and grey smoke, and began helping Robinson fill the water jugs. Bowser and Aamod stepped in right behind me.
Jax kept his distance, sitting up on the couch, scouting out the situation, and continuing to bark.
“I’m gonna get Olivia and take her out back!” Peaches yelled, and hustled away in a hurry.
“Wake up the others while you’re at it!” I yelled back.
With the four of us working in tandem, we gradually began to get the flames under control. Robinson was fortunate the fire started in the dining room, as aside from the tablecloth, there was little else that was flammable to catch fire and keep it going. As parts of the tablecloth sheared off and coasted to the tile floor, Bowser would stomp the remaining embers out with his giant clodhopper shoes.
Through the fog ahead, I saw Peaches carrying Olivia out to the back deck. Naima, Diego, and Luna were all close behind. Diego limped along at a slow gait.
“Leave the door open,” Robinson said, grabbing the now black tablecloth by one of the corners, dragging it off the table, across the tile floor, and out through the open sliding glass door. “Out of the way. Out of the way.”
I followed him outside, watching as he hastily dropped the destroyed tablecloth in the center of the deck.
“Shit,” he yelped, squeezing his right hand into a tight fist.
“Did you get burned?” I asked.
“It bit me, but I’ll be all right.”
A good deal of smoke still rose from the tablecloth even though the fire was out. Even more smoke was coming from the house. I wondered how long it would be before the smell would be gone.
Hours?
Days?
This was just what we needed. I could feel my headache getting worse.
Then Bowser stepped outside and dropped a bomb on me. “Yo, Jimmy, where’s your grandma?”
Good fucking question!
After a quick search of the smoke-filled house, we ended up on the front lawn. Grandma had showed us the way, leaving the front door wide open when she left.
“I can’t believe this,” I said. “I’m such an idiot. This is all my fault.”
“You couldn’t have known she’d do something like that,” Peaches said. She had Olivia cradled in her arms.
“Wrong, I could have known. I saw the way she was staring at the candles on the table, but I never thought she’d try to burn the place down. That’s fucking crazy. What’s wrong with her?”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Peaches said.
I rubbed my forehead, trying to sooth the building tension inside. “I shouldn’t have left her alone. She’s my responsibility.”
“So we go look for her,” Robinson said. “She couldn’t have gone far.”
“Why don’t y’all split up,” Peaches suggested. “Two of you guys go one way. Two go the other.”
Aamod made a clear expression of disapproval. “I don’t know about that. It may not be safe.”
“We don’t have any other choice,” Robinson said. “We can’t just let her roam off by herself. We have to find her.”
“We do?” Aamod said. “If I recall correctly, we weren’t going to do anything about my missing wife, who also ran off by herself. You said it wasn’t safe. And now it is me who is being unreasonable?”
Robinson sighed.
“Whatever,” I said. “If he doesn’t want to help, then he doesn’t have to. Let’s just go.”
I walked away.
A moment later, Robinson jogged up beside me. We began heading west.
“Don’t worry, Jimmy,” Robinson said. “We’ll find her. I doubt she even left the road.”
“Unless she knows we’ll come looking for her,” I said. “And doesn’t want to be found.”
I turned and glanced back. Bowser was heading east down the street by himself. Behind him, off in the distance, the sun gradually began to rise.
A hundred yards down the street, we came to an intersection, stopped and looked both ways.
No sign of her.
“That Aamod guy is something else,” Robinson finally said, breaking the silence.
“He’s been through a lot. We all have.”
“You think he’s telling the truth?”
“Why would he lie?”
Robinson shrugged. “Maybe not lie, just over exaggerate.”
“Oh, he’s good at that. But I tend to believe him. My grandma’s actions tonight are way out of the ordinary. I can’t explain it. She’s never done anything like this before. It has to be a result of the infection. There’s no other explanation. And if she’s acting this way … this strange … then maybe others are too.”
“No offense, Jimmy, but your grandma is no young lady anymore.”
“I know. Nobody is more surprised than me that she’s still—”
“Hold on,” Robinson interrupted. “You see that?”
About fifty yards ahead, a figure came into view through the early morning fog.
We picked up the pace until we were close enough to get a better look. What we saw was an old lady, grey hair in a bun, hunched over, wearing her favorite sweater and nightcap, walking west in the middle of the street.
“Oh, thank God,” I said.
Then the fog revealed the others, just beyond her, standing at the next intersection.
Three of them. All male. Arms down at their sides.
Facing us.
Chills ran down my spine.
I saw Robinson instinctively reach for his gun, and then realize he didn’t have it on him. His expression changed from cool confidence to cold terror.
“Grandma, stop!” I yelled.
I didn’t think she’d listen, but she did. She stopped and turned around to face us as we walked up. Robinson looked past her, focused on the three strange men ten feet behind her.
“Who are you? What are you doing out here?” he asked, trying to put forward his best tough cop voice.
Didn’t work. They said nothing. They weren’t intimidated.
All three were white, middle-aged, of average build, and wore normal Florida wear, which meant shorts and a T-shirt. One had a ball cap with a logo on it I didn’t recognize. Another had a scraggily beard. All three had mastered the art of the stone face. They could have made a fortune playing poker in Vegas.
If Vegas weren’t in shambles.
And if they weren’t crazy.
“Grandma, come on,” I said, gently grabbing her arm. “We have to go.”
All three men took a single step forward, like soldiers on some old battlefield readying to fire.
Go ahead, I thought.
I didn’t care. I kept my hand on her arm, and I wasn’t going to let her go. She looked up at me with the same stone face of the three men behind her, and again I felt some unexplainable alien energy pass between us, like I had earlier sitting next to her at the dining room table. She was trying to speak to me without words, directly into my mind, but I couldn’t understand her. God knows I tried.
“We’ve got to go now,” I said again. “Go home. Remember home? Remember the bookstore? That’s where we’re gonna go. Everything will be fine then, grandma. You have to trust me.”
The three men now took two more steps forward in unison. But it wasn’t because of anything I said or did. Someone was approaching behind us. I heard the sound of shoes grinding against the pavement.
It was Aamod.