"What are you doing?" she asked, nervously.
"Glasses," the little boy said. "You need glasses."
At first, Jane wasn't sure what he was talking about. She thought that he was referring to her eyesight. But that didn't seem right.
She watched as the little boy raise his arm to reach for the cupboard.Oh, those glasses!"Let me help you."
She walked over to the little boy and reached over his head. She opened the cupboard and pulled out three of them.
"Over there," Robert said. He pointed to the kitchen table.
She made her way over to it.
As she put the glasses down, Jane couldn't help but notice the state of the table. On top of it there were two cereal boxes. Both opened. One was lying down. Cereal had spilled out from it onto the floor. There was also a bowl filled with cereal and milk. The milk had been spilled all over the table.
Jane looked at the little child. His expression conveyed guilt.
"I spilled them," he admitted.
She raised the corners of her lips. She didn't want him to think that he had done anything wrong. He obviously had had to take care of himself and had done a pretty good job. "That's okay. It won't take long to clean up."
Jane placed the glasses onto the kitchen countertop and grabbed a dish cloth. She tried to turn on the sink tap, but it only sputtered air and a few drop of water. The water had been turned off. Or had run out.
She turned back to face Robert. He continued to look guilty, as though he had been the one responsible for the water. She smiled again.
"Do you have any water?" she asked.
Robert shook his head. "Idid. But I drank it. Was that bad?"
"Of course not! I'm sure you were very thirsty."
"I spilled some of it too," he added. "Out there." He pointed to the living room.
"That's okay. Don't worry about it. But we'll need to find some way to cleanthisup."
She looked back at the cereal and milk. Though only for a second. She turned and went to the counter to look under the sink. There she found a few cleaning supplies. She took them over to the kitchen table and began to clean up the boy's mess. Robert watched. He looked as though he waned to help, but Jane told him to sit down, everything was okay.
As she finished the last few wipes, Charles walked into the room.
"It's all clear," he said.
Again, Jane didn't understand. She thought that he was talking about the cereal and milk. But she had just cleaned it up. He couldn't have known.
"Outside," Charles clarified. "They've gone."
Jane shook her head.Oh,she thought, that'sclear.
"Is everything okay?"
"It's fine," Jane replied. "Just cleaning up a bit."
Charles didn't say anything more about it. He looked at the little boy and could see that he was embarrassed. He sat at the kitchen table. "So, where's that drink you promised me?"
"It's in the fridge." Robert replied. "Can I get it?" The little boy wasn't asking Charles. He was looking at Jane. As though she was in charge.
Jane took the soiled rag over to the sink. "I'll get it," she said as she went. "You can sit there and relax. You've done a very good job taking care of yourself. You need a little rest."
Robert didn't look too sure of himself, but he smiled when she said that he had done a good job.
Jane walked over to the fridge and opened it. There wasn't much inside. It had been several days since everything had changed and the little boy must have rampaged through the food in his fear. She pulled out a small box of grape juice and took it over to the table.
"You don't have much left," she said. "You must've been very hungry to eat all of that."
Robert looked at her and shook his head. "No, I didn't eat a lot. There wasn't much food in there."
"There wasn't?"
"No. My parents went shopping. That's where they were -getting food."
"They left you alone with your brother?" Jane tried not to sound angry, but she couldn't believe that people could have left their five year old son alone.
Of course, if he had gone with them, he might have been killed.
"Not for long," Robert explained. "They do it every week. It's always been okay."
Charles reached out and put his hand on the boy's arm. "It's fine," he said. "No one is angry. We were just wondering." He glanced at Jane.
She knew that she shouldn't concern herself with it.What's done is done.She didn't need to upset the boy. She opened the juice box and poured three small glasses. She handed them out.
"Thank you," Robert said, softly
Jane reached out and put her hand on the little boy's head. "You're welcome," she said. "Now, don't worry, I'm not mad. I'm just a little tired tired."
Robert looked up. "They never leave us for long. And Petey is a very good babysitter. He's ten."
Well,Jane thought,ten might be old enough to be left alone. But to take care of a five year old child?She wasn't all too sure about that.
She raised her glass to her mouth and took a sip. The juice was warm. The refrigerator didn't work because the power in the house was out. Just as it had been everywhere else.
Chapter 8
Rick walked along behind Joe. Carl and Big Mike were up far ahead of him. They had left the camp a while ago.Left his prize…
Rick couldn't stop thinking of the young girl. For some reason, she made him feel important. Like he had come through with something in all of the shit that had happened. Something that heowned.
He wanted to call out to Joe and tell him that he was going to turn around. He had no more intention of following Carl and Big Mike to find more supplies. He already had what he wanted:the young girl.
At that, he realized that he didn't even know what her name was. He hadn't asked. That would be the first thing he did when he got back.
He also didn't trust Carl. The man was insane. The way he had killed that man a few days ago.Smashed his head in with a boulder. That was too much.
Plus, there was the way he had talked to him when he had arrived back at camp. Carl had no right. The young girl was Rick's. No question about it.
Shit, Rick thought.What had he gotten himself in to?
He picked up his pace to catch up to his friend.
Once there, he reached out and slowly touched Joe's arm. He didn't want Carl and Big Mike to notice.
Joe turned to look at him.
"What the fuck are we doing?" Rick asked. His voice wasn't much more than a whisper.
His friend shrugged his shoulders.
"Then why the fuck don't we get out of here? We could go back to camp or something? Take the girl and start a crew of our own?" The wordcrew sounded funny to Rick as soon as he said it. It was something out of a bad 50's movie.
"I don't know," Joe said uneasily. "You think it's a good idea?"
"Sure, it's good idea. We don't needed these guys. We can survive fine on our own."
"Yeah…but I don't know."
"Fuck," Rick said a little louder than he felt comfortable with. He shot a look up at Carl and Big Mike. They hadn't noticed. "I don't know, I don't know. Do you know anything?"
Joe looked hurt by Rick's comments. And, for some reason, Rick felt bad about saying them. He didn't want to hurt his friend. Joe was one of the only people left in the world that he trusted. Him and Jim. But Jim's face had been blown to bits.
"I'm sorry, man," he said. "I didn't mean that. It's just the situation, you know? It's driving me crazy."
Joe accepted his apology with a nod of his head and a smile on his lips.
"It's you and me, pal," Rick continued. "We're in this together."
"Yeah…but I still don't know if it's a good idea to leave."
Rick didn't, either. Actually, he was pretty sure that itwasn't a good idea. If Carl and Big Mike saw them walking away, they'd probably come after them and beat the shit out of them. Or worse, kill them.
Yet, he wanted to leave anyway. "We've gotta get out of here.
You with me?"
Joe thought about it for a moment. Then he nodded his head.
But before they could make a move someone shouted at them from the front of the line.
"Hey!" It was Carl.
Carl's hand was raised his hand, but Rick didn't know what it meant. It looked like a sign from the army or something. Except Rick had never been in the army. For all he knew, neither had Carl. Maybe the guy just lifted it from a war movie. He wouldn't put it past him.
"You two, get up here," Carl continued. "There's something that I want you to see."
Rick swore. He didn't want to take any more orders from this guy. He wanted togive orders. Unfortunately, he didn't think he'd be able to do anything about it at the moment.
"Let's go take a look," he decided. "We can take off later. Sound good?"
Joe nodded his head and the two ran up to catch up with Carl and Big Mike. Carl with his tattoos. The one of the snake on his fuckin' arms. And Big Mike with that big shotgun.
Fuck, these guys were crazy.
Rick slowed down and as he approached them. "What's up? There a problem?"
Carl glared at him, annoyed, but he gathered himself and pointed out over the distance. "See that?"
Rick looked. He couldn't see much of anything.
Then he noticed them. It looked like a group of people. Maybe three or four. They didn't look very appealing, though. They weren't carrying any bags. It didn't even look like their clothes were very nice.
"What about 'em?" Rick asked. "You wanna attack 'em or something?"
Carl laughed. "No, we're not going to attackthem. Those are the creatures."
"The creatures?"
"The creatures!" Carl slapped Rick on the back.
"I thought they killed each other," Rick said, ignoring the man's touch.
Carl raised up his finger as though he were about to teach an important lesson. "That's why I called you up here. It seems that our competition has changed. They seem to like each other now. Isn't it sweet?"
Carl smiled. It made Rick sick.
"No, it's not sweet," he said. "It's fuckin' scary."
At that, Carl's smile dropped.
Rick knew that he shouldn't have said anything. He simply couldn't help it. It wasn'tsweet at all that they creatures were working together. That meant that the creatures could hunt in groups.
Carl moved his face closer to his own. Rick could smell the man's breath. Surprisingly, it smelled like mint. Rick had expected something foul.
Their leader tilted his head and brought one of his eyes closer to Rick's. "Itissweet," he said. "It means that they've evolved. You know what that means, don't you? It means that they're trying to survive. Like us. They're trying to work together. Like us. They want to live.Like…us."
Rick couldn't say anything to that. Nor did he didn't want to. He was sure that anything he said would either leave him with a bullet, or a boulder, in the head. He simply nodded.
"Good," Carl said. "You understand."
Rick nodded. "So, what are we going to do?"
Carl raised his hand and looked as though he was going to strike Rick. But, before he did, he composed himself and flattened his shirt with the palms of his hands. He turned back toward the creatures walking across the horizon. "We're just going to sit here for a while and watch."
Rick didn't argue. None of them did. If that's what Carl wanted to do, then that's what they would do.
*
They waited until the creatures had gone.
"Beautiful, wasn't it?" Carl asked.
Only Big Mike shook his head.
Carl turned to look at Rick. "What didyouthink?"
Rick wanted to say it was stupid.So fuckin' stupid.They were wasting time. They had wasted time. And it had been dangerous. If the creatures had seen them...
"I don't know," he muttered. "It was okay, I guess."
"You guess? Do you understand what you've just seen? It's survival. It's how a species comes together. It's how they bond. How they thrive."
Rick wanted to shoutbig fuckin' deal. But he didn't. He just shrugged his shoulders.
That got him a cold stare from Carl. So much so that Rick thought that this was the end.
He watched anxiously, his heart beating heavily.
Carl didn't move. And he didn't attack. "Let me get this straight, you didn't see anything beautiful in that?"
Rick knew that he should just sayyeah, it was fuckin' great. I can't wait to see it again. But the words wouldn't come out.
He saw Carl twitch.
This was it. He was a dead man. He knew it.
Yet, it didn't happen. Carl's twitch turned into a smile. "Think about it a little more," was all he said. "We can talk about it later." Then he screamed, a great yell over the landscape.
Rick cast a look at Joe.
Yeah, no doubt about it, this guy was nuts. And he and his friend needed to get out of there.
Chapter 9
Sam sat next to Gregor, both beside the cage. Shelly hadn't looked at him yet, but she was still in there, huddled up against the back bars with Big Mike's woman. She had her arm wrapped around the little girl and was whispering something to her the whole time. Sam didn't know what. He assumed that it had to be some sort of consolation.It'll be okay, everything will be all right, we'll get out of here.Stuff like that.
He wished he could have said those things to her too, but he wasn't been about to do it in front of Gregor. The man would probably throw him into the cage to be dealt with Big Mike and Rick later. Carl would get in on it somehow as well.
It was better not to say anything.
He couldn't stop thinking of her, though.Shelly.
He knew that she wasn't the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was actually a little bit awkward looking. She didn't have much of a body. Just straight lines. Though there was a hint of change in the girl's figure. In the way that she moved. And it would only develop more over time.
The thing that struck him most were her eyes. The way she had looked at him when they had first met. Her, looking out the window. Him, waving up to her. There was also the way she looked at the world. She was innocent. Inquisitive.
Sam felt a chill of excitement run through him. Then he felt a kick on his foot.
Sam looked at Gregor. The man was staring at him.
"Well?" he asked.
"Well?" Sam didn't know what he was talking about. He hadn't been following the conversation.
"I asked what you did in the old world, before everything went to shit."
"What I did?"
"Yeah, what was your job?"
"Oh, shit, sorry. Just got to thinking about something else there." He hoped that Gregor wasn't going to ask him what it had been.
He didn't. Gregor repeated the question.
"I worked in a pizzeria," Sam said. "I made pizzas. The best around!"
"Fuck, no way! I could go for a pizza around now!" He started to laugh.
Sam joined him.Hopefully it would move them away from the comment that his mind had been onother things.
"What kind of pizzas did you make?"
"What kind? Every kind! Pepperoni. Hawaiian. Thick crust, thin crust. You name it!"
"Fuck, man, you're givin' me a hard-on! I'd kill for one!"
The wordkillbothered Sam. Even though he knew that it was just an expression, things had changed. People might actuallykillfor those things now. And they might kill for looking at someone else's property.Shelly.
"You can't make one now, can you?" Gregor asked.
"Now?"
"Yeah, right now."
Sam shook his head. "I don't have the ingredients. And I couldn't cook it even if I did."
"That sucks. I guess I just have to stick with vodka and whatever food we find. Speaking of that…is there anything left?"
"A few things," Sam explained. "But that's why the others went off."
"Just to find food?"
"And women," Sam added. Carl had said so that mo
rning.
"And women!? That's great! I hope they find a beautiful woman for Gregor!" He laughed once more.
Sam smiled. Then he stole another look at the cage. He didn't care what women the men found, so long as he could have Shelly.
"Look," Gregor said. "Stay here and watch the girls. I'm gonna go take a piss, then get some stuff from the camp. I'm hungry. And I need something to drink. You want something?"
"I'm okay for now."
And he was. In fact, he was better than that. Gregor was going to leave him alone with Shelly.
Chapter 10
Sam smiled and watched as Gregor walked away. When he thought that the other man wouldn't notice, he looked into the cage.
The two were still against the far side of it. They weren't paying him any attention.
Sam wanted to call out to the young girl, to let him know that he was there, but he didn't feel comfortable enough to do that. Although Gregor probably wouldn't notice himlookinginto the cage, he mighthear him. He stole a glance over his shoulder to see where Gregor was. The man was standing in the field, pissing. Not far enough away.
As he sat there, Sam's mind started to pick up speed. He thought about how close he was to Shelly, how close he was to getting her out of the cage. He could do it once Gregor got out of sight. Open the gate, grab her, and make a run for it. Big Mike's woman might cause a bit of a problem, but he was sure that he could stop her quick enough. He wasn't opposed to hitting a woman, especially if she deserved it. Or he could just offer her her freedom. He was sure that she'd take it over the young girl.
His heart started to beat faster. His palms began to sweat.
He looked back at Gregor. The man had zipped himself up and was walking toward the fire.
Now was the time.
Sam tuned back toward the cage and grabbed at the latch. He hadn't noticed it before, but there was a lock on it.
A lock!And he didn't have the key.Gregor must have it. Unless he left it lying around.
Sam started to search. He looked where Gregor had been sitting. Nothing. He looked in a few other places. Nothing.
He stopped. He could see the two girls in the cage watching him now, wondering what he was doing.
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