"Well now you know. Clean up your mess, and then we'll talk."
"Wait." I begged, my arms reaching toward her with my palms out in a halting motion. I didn't want her to vanish again so quickly. "What's your name?"
She paused at a small side door I hadn't noticed before, and turned to look back at me. Her green eyes bore into mine. Again, her answer came slow as she considered my request, but finally she answered. "Meg."
She disappeared into the hotel and the door shut with finality behind her.
I looked at Joss as he stepped close to me, and he grinned sheepishly with his hands still in the air. "I found her."
CHAPTER 4 – JOSS
I slipped past Ali, who remained staring after Meg. She had lowered her hands to her hips, her eyes blazing. I didn't know if she was thinking about Meg or me finding a way into her hotel. I feared the latter, but it wasn't enough to wipe the grin off my face. I was ecstatic to have found someone else like us. Someone we could actually talk to.
As the door shut behind me, Stephanie stood close by, staring at me expectantly. She had her hands clasped in a white-knuckled grasp in front of her. "Who is she?"
"I don't know." I said with a shrug, grinning. "She lives here, and she's definitely like us. Like me and Ali."
"She's the one that helped us? Are there more of them here? Does she live in that building?" Stephanie was excited, her questions tumbling one over the other.
I shook my head. "I don't know. I didn't see anyone else, but I wasn't really looking. The gun was kinda distracting."
Stephanie blinked at me, her expression blank, and I turned back to the window to hide my smirk. Ali was rooted in the same spot with her arms folded across her chest, staring at the hotel. Why wasn't she coming inside?
"Well, what did she say?" Stephanie prodded.
"Her name is Meg. She wants us to clean up the bodies." I answered absently.
"What do you mean?"
I shrugged, not having the faintest clue on how to tackle that problem. Ali would have to work that out. Stephanie continued to barrage me with questions I couldn't answer until Ali came inside. Then Ali started in on me with a list of her own.
"What were you thinking? How did you even get in there?" Her frown was close to a scowl as her eyes fixed on me.
"There's a basement in the parking garage that connects to the hotel. I wasn't going to go in by myself." I looked away from her. The door had been locked when I'd tried it, anyway.
"Then how did you get in there?"
"Not by myself." I grinned, pleased. Ali was losing patience and that only seemed to make it harder to stop smiling.
"Okay, smart ass. Where did you find Meg?" Her arms were crossed over her chest again, and she glared at me.
"She found me." I said, finally relenting. My smile faded. When she had busted through that locked door, I had screamed and dropped my hatchet. The woman didn't let me pick it back up either. Ali didn't have to know that part. "She must be watching us."
"What all did she say to you?"
"She wasn't exactly chatty. More pissed that I was snooping around. She asked me who we were, then pretty much told me to get out."
"She's scared." Stephanie said softly. "Nobody likes strangers."
"You're right about that." Ali agreed, her anger seeming to fade a little. She was chewing on her lip again and turned back to the window. "How are we going to get rid of those bodies?"
"Can we burn them?" I asked.
"It would take some time, and smell pretty rank in the process." Ali said. "Maybe we can use the cart to haul them off."
"And then burn them?" I asked again.
Ali didn't look at me, but her sigh let me know she was exasperated. I was surprised when she somewhat agreed. "Maybe. Whatever we do, we'll get started in the morning. At least we can sleep comfortably in here tonight."
That we agreed on. We were able to get a good dinner together, complete with silverware and plates. Ali managed to rig a small fire in the bathroom near the window, and the hot, salted noodles she made were excellent. A huge improvement over the cold soup we had for breakfast.
At one point, I turned to Stephanie and smirked, "Do you miss potatoes yet?"
"Oh, God, no!" She replied, laughing. Even Ali's mood began to lighten after that.
The evening was restful, a few hours of peace that we sorely needed. Ali and Stephanie talked about old television shows, but I couldn't follow their conversation. I could vaguely remember television since I'd grown up in the country with only local channels, and Lawton didn't have the good stuff. I was too young to care at the time, anyway, but it was nice to see Ali and Stephanie finding common ground.
When the sky deepened to darker shades of pinks and purples, Ali volunteered to take first watch. Stephanie and I both crawled into our pallets, and she was snoring softly within minutes. I had a harder time falling asleep, but when I finally closed my eyes, it seemed Ali was waking me up a second later, already my turn to take watch duty. She snuggled into her pallets, and I spent the rest of the uneventful night staring out the window at the milling freaks.
As soon as the first light of dawn broke over the horizon, I rushed to wake Ali. The last few hours of my watch had been increasingly boring, and I was growing tired of being alone with my thoughts. Ali didn't seem to mind the early morning wake-up call, and was eager to get our gruesome task over with.
"I was thinking about it all night." Ali said as she strapped on her weapon harness. "We should use the cart to haul off the bodies. We might have to burn them, but at least they won't be close to us. If you're okay staying with Stephanie, I'll try to find a decent place to dump them. You want to help me get the four-wheeler started?"
"Okay." I cocked my head to the side as I watched her. I didn't have much to add to the conversation. I conceded that Ali would have to be the one to come up with a good plan to dispose of the dead-brains. I grinned. "Do you need a driving lesson?"
"I think I have the hang of it." She said wryly. I chuckled.
Stephanie sat up on her pallet and yawned loudly before she spoke. "I can fix breakfast."
"I saw some white rice and sugar in the kitchen." Ali suggested.
"Yes!" Stephanie almost squealed. "I haven't had sugar in forever! How do you fix it?"
Ali smiled at her. "Wash the rice with the Dasani, then boil it until..."
I stopped listening, moving to the door to get a count of the freaks wandering around outside. They had spread out some since their bonfire party, but only a few had broken off and scattered in separate directions. They looked manageable.
Glancing back at Ali to make sure she saw me, I nodded to her before slipping out the door. My plan was to get the four-wheeler started and make sure the cart was secure behind it. First thing was to check the fuel level in the tank. I groaned when I couldn't see anything after spinning off the lid and had to rock the four-wheeler to get a visual. A sharp smell wafting from the opening made me cringe. I knew that last batch of gas I had used had gone bad. It had smelled nothing like what I remembered gasoline should smell like.
Grumbling, I mounted the four-wheeler and slid the key into the ignition. Thumbing the choke, I turned the key, but the engine only gave a low hiss that quickly faded away. The battery was bad, on top of the other problem. I was sitting there dejectedly when Ali came out, an eyebrow arching as she stared at the four-wheeler.
"Do we need to use your little trick again?" She asked.
"We can try." I shrugged. "There's not a lot of gas left, though."
Ali groaned, running a hand through her short hair. She stood silent for a moment while she contemplated and sighed. "Guess it's time for plan B, then."
"What’s that?"
She looked at me and smirked. "Burn 'em."
I chuckled as I watched her move to the cart to pull out the canister of bad fuel. At least it would still ignite. I asked her, "You really want to talk to Meg, don't you?"
"Of course." Ali said. "Maybe she
has some answers. Somebody has to have the answers somewhere, right?" Her vibrant green eyes were searching as she looked back at me.
I nodded and smiled. "We'll take shifts until all the bodies are gone. It'll make it easier, at least. Then Meg will talk to us."
"If I don't piss her off more than she already is." Ali huffed. "This isn't going to be pretty." She glanced up at the hotel, and I saw the worry and tension etched on her face. She seemed desperate to talk to Meg, her quest for answers driving her. It was more than I could understand.
A few dead-brains wandered close, possibly drawn by our conversation, and caught Ali's attention. She glared at them. "Guess I better get started."
I watched her go, frowning at her back. There was more to her tension and worry than just dealing with the dead-brain bodies, but I had no idea how to help her. A sick feeling settled in my stomach when I thought about what might have happened to her in the hotel, dark things she wasn't telling me. Was that why she cut her hair? I sighed deeply before turning back to the café.
Inside, I had to hunt for Stephanie, finally finding her in the bathroom working to get another cook fire started in the sink. She already had the rice in a pot of water, and a bag of sugar sitting on a clean tablecloth on the floor. The thought of eating something sweet made my mouth start to water. Ali had fixed sweet rice for me a few times, but we had been in Sundown the last time I had any.
"Thanks for doing this." I told her, propping the door open so more light could filter in. The small window was already open to vent the smoke, but it didn't allow much light in to see by.
"I'm just happy that I can help do something." She shrugged. "It feels like I've caused nothing but trouble."
My smile quickly faded. I never would have said it, even though it was true. I wanted to protect her and find a safe place for her and the baby, and I was pretty sure Ali felt the same way by now. Stephanie took note of my silence and glanced my way. I wasn't able to mask the look on my face fast enough, and Stephanie's shoulders slumped as she turned back to the sink.
"Did I make a mistake?" She asked softly.
I considered my words carefully, not wanting to hurt her more. "We knew it would be hard. Ali and I both knew what it was going to take to get you out of there. You didn't make a mistake." It sounded lame in my ears, but I hoped it was enough to reassure her. I believed my words. "You know what it's like traveling out there."
"No," She replied in that same soft voice. "I don't know. What I've seen these past couple of days... it's terrifying. It makes me wonder how anybody is left alive at all." She didn't look at me while she spoke. She was completely focused on lighting a fire. "After what happened to my mom, I just stayed at the school. There were a group of kids and teachers there, and that's where we lived. The adults only left long enough to find food, and a lot of nights we went hungry anyway. We always thought somebody was going to come save us."
"You saw some of the dead-brains though, didn't you?" I asked, leaning against the wall close to her. She struck one of the matches Ali had found, and lit the small stack of kindling at the bottom of the sink like Ali had shown her.
"A couple. I knew the one that got my mom. Some kid named Marty that worked at our grocery store." She paused to poke at the growing flames with a metal tong before continuing. "He wasn't the only one that caught up with us. We ran, but Marty was faster than all the others. He caught us on our front porch, and Mom pushed me out of the way. Everything happened so fast after that.
"He knocked her down and was on top of her before we could get the door open. She kept screaming for me to get inside, but I couldn't leave her there. I knocked him off with one of the lawn chairs, and we made it inside before the others caught up. It was too late, though." Stephanie sighed deeply and rubbed at her nose. "She knew what was going to happen and got me to the school before she got sick. She told me goodbye, and I never saw her again."
Stephanie fell silent. I remembered her telling me that her mom had turned, and she never talked about having any other family. Not knowing what to say, I gently reached up to pat her on the shoulder, hoping that would be enough to comfort her. I didn't expect it when she turned quickly to crash into me, sobbing as she buried her head in my shoulder. Her hands clawed into my t-shirt, and her shoulders shook as her warm tears instantly soaked through the thin material.
Shock paralyzed me, and it took several seconds before my brain began to work again. I awkwardly wrapped my arms around her to comfort her, and the hardness of her pregnant belly pressed against my stomach. My attempts to shift away from here were in vain. She was crying too hard to notice.
Suddenly, I felt a flutter in her belly and then a thump struck my own stomach. My surprised reaction was instant, and Stephanie's grip couldn't hold me anymore as I danced away. She gasped and broke into a nervous giggle that was interrupted by an occasional sob. She wiped at the tears on her cheeks and managed to get out two words between her odd hiccups. "I'm sorry."
I gingerly touched her belly with my fingertips and smiled. "I guess he's doing okay."
She nodded and regained some of her composure. "I think so. He moves around a lot, even after everything that's happened."
"That's good." I said and wondered how much time we had left. If Stephanie thought she was trouble, how many dead-brains would be called by the crying of a newborn baby? I swallowed my worries and continued. "We'll find a place that's safe."
She gave me a cynical look, her head tilted to one side and lips pursed. "Do you really think we can?"
"Yes." My response was quick. A pause would have revealed my doubts. "They're only real thick around the cities. I lived on a farm for three months and never saw one. We can find a safe place."
Stephanie heaved a sigh of relief. I patted her on the shoulder before moving the pot of rice to sit it on the fire. It was a tight fit, but with Stephanie's help, we were able to get it secured.
"How long do you think it'll take to boil?" Stephanie asked.
"Shouldn't take too long, but one of us will have to watch the fire."
Stephanie smiled up at me, her dark eyes catching the light. "I'll do it."
She left no room to argue.
~ ~ ~ ~
Twenty minutes later I was pacing through the store, bored. Since Stephanie decided she was going to take care of preparing the meal herself, I had nothing to do. Guard duty was boring, but I didn't envy Ali and the job she was working on. It would be my turn soon enough.
My steps kept taking me to the window, and I stared up and down the plaza at what I could see. The view was boring, but there were some promising areas I wanted to explore. I was also curious to see one of the casinos. I only had the vaguest idea of what they would be like, but Ali wanted to see them, so I did too.
Groaning, I continued to pace until Stephanie called out that the rice was done. She was carrying the heavy pot, holding it out awkwardly, and I rushed to take it from her.
"Thanks." She gave me an apologetic smile. "I was trying to move it to the kitchen. Do you want to get Ali?"
I glanced at the door, willing Ali to magically appear, and then turned back to Stephanie. "Will you be okay here alone?"
"It's not like you'll be that far away." She gave me a half smile.
I stared a moment longer before agreeing. "I'll just take a second."
Stephanie nodded and began to fetch some bowls and utensils from the café's abundant stash.
"I'll be right back... okay?" I stuttered, realizing I didn't want to leave her alone, even for a few seconds. The look she gave me was patronizing, and she nodded again before she started to giggle. I sighed and headed for the door. "Okay then. Be right back."
Even knowing I'd only be gone a few minutes, I ran. I was focused on asking Ali if she wanted to take a break to eat and was not prepared for what I saw, or smelled, when I rounded the corner. The mass of dead bodies seemed to remain untouched, except for a few closer to the trash bin. Ali had dumped those missing bodies in there and douse
d them with gasoline.
Ali had been slumped against the wall, gory and sweaty again, and she leaped up as soon as she saw me. Her voice was urgent with traces of panic. "What's wrong?"
"Uh..." I floundered and had to mentally shake myself before I could continue. "Nothing. Stephanie wondered if you wanted breakfast."
Her eyebrows shot up. "Seriously?"
I nodded. Ali held her arms out wide and looked down at yet another ruined set of clothes. Blood stained them, along with other unidentified splotches of gore. Ali looked back at me and smirked. "Think I'll pass right now."
She sighed and slumped against the wall again. I took a few steps closer to her but didn't bother trying to navigate over the bodies. I looked at the pile, comparing it to a small section that had disappeared, and gave Ali a concerned look.
She chuckled bitterly. It was a weak, defeated sound. "This is going to be a long process."
"Maybe we should try to find more dumpsters." I offered, scrubbing a hand through my hair and mentally preparing myself to get filthy again. "I saw one in the parking garage. Aren't they on wheels?"
Ali blinked as she considered me for a moment, and she pushed herself away from the wall. "Guess I have time to hunt for some. Not like we can light a fire in the daylight. I'll have to do that tonight." She picked her way gingerly through the corpses. "We need the darkness to hide the smoke."
I swallowed hard at her unspoken reminder of Reed. The buildings would hide the glow of the flames, but even if he was miles away, the smoke would have brought him right to us if it were daylight. I had no illusions that he would give up on his revenge. Scared to even mention his name, I turned from Ali, calling over my shoulder as I walked off. "Let me check on Stephanie first."
I ran inside, shaking off the cold feelings. Stephanie met me with a smile that quickly faltered when I told her our plans. Obviously this bothered her more than me just being around the corner in shouting distance.
"Fifteen minutes, tops." I said, hoping to reassure her. She never said a word in protest, but the anxiety in her eyes told a different story. Ali’s disheveled appearance at the window didn’t help, either. For a moment, I was torn and had to force myself out the door. The nervous twisting in my stomach grew worse.
The Phoenix Curse (Book 3): After Page 10