Rudy darted after him, crying, “Get back here!”
But Trey tore free of his grasp and backed away. “I’m tired of this play-it-safe bullshit,” he said. “I didn’t come out here for nothing, man. We might have survivors so if you want to help, great, cover me. If not, I’ll catch up to you guys.”
His pursuer started into the logical counterargument but Trey dismissed it with a flap of his hand and began calling back toward the restaurant. “Hello! If anybody is here, don’t be afraid. We are not going to hurt you. If you’re armed, put your weapons down. My name is Trey, I’m super nice, and I’m coming in!”
He pushed through a flimsy double doorway and into the kitchen.
Zephyr counted.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three.
He couldn’t wait any longer, so he bolted for the kitchen, his weapon raised and ready, and like dominoes the others fell behind him.
Distantly, he heard Shannon shout, “Trey! Say something, for God’s sake!”
Another second — a lifetime in slow motion. Then a muffled voice from somewhere inside.
“It’s OK. Come on in, guys.”
Zephyr realized he’d been holding his breath, exhaled, and then pushed open the door.
Tommy’s was a greasy dive. The kind of fast food best served at three in the morning to a gathering of drunken, ravenous teenagers as they struggled to keep their eyelids from closing. Zephyr had never been, but the chain held a permanent place on Trey’s exhaustive list of Things I Would Devour Immediately if the World Returned to Normal.
But as he stepped through the double doors into the kitchen, the only thing remarkable about it was that it was clean. No mold. No shattered plastic plates or discarded wrappers, no graffiti, not even any perceivable dust. The industrial equipment held its stainless steel shine. The floors were spotless. Then he saw Trey, his back to the group, squatting on both legs, his weapons on the ground beside him. And just beyond his friend, huddled together in a dark crevice between an oversized stove and dishwasher, two smaller figures held each other and stared back at him.
“It’s OK. We’re not going to hurt you,” Trey said. “See? I’ve put my guns down. My name is Trey. What’s yours?”
No response. Zephyr strained to see them, squinting into the shadows as Trey tried again. Somewhere behind him, Rudy whispered updates to Command.
“All right. I understand you’re probably freaked out right now. I would be, too. So let me just tell you why we’re here. This is my friend Zephyr,” Trey said and thumbed backward. “Behind him are Shannon, Miles and Rudy. We came up here to see if there’s any food or water and we’ve got our guns just for protection, not to hurt anyone. That’s all. We didn’t expect to find any survivors, so we’re really happy to see you. I’m just going to sit down on the floor here and we can get to know each other, cool?”
Zephyr felt obliged to chime in and yet he didn’t know what to say. He settled on, “Hi, I’m Zephyr,” gave a little wave, and then sat on the tile, too. Shannon did the same, then Miles, and after a moment’s hesitation, even Rudy, although he held tight to his weapons.
“Great,” Trey said. “So you wanna try again? Can you tell me your names?”
Silence stretched on for a long time. Zephyr heard whispers, but couldn’t discern the words. Then one of the silhouettes finally nodded.
“Sam.” Soft, low, but unmistakably young. If he was a teenager, only just. “My name’s Sam.”
“Hi, Sam. Who’s your friend?” Trey asked.
More enthusiastic now. “He’s Nathan. I watch him.”
“OK, great. Now we’re getting somewhere. Thanks for talking to me, guys. How old are you two?”
“I’m not really sure any more. I used to be eleven. Nate used to be eight. Do you know what month it is?”
Trey nodded. “Yes. It’s November. It’s actually been more than a year since folks went away, so you two are probably twelve and nine now.”
“No, my birthday’s June, not November,” the other boy said.
“He means your birthday’s passed, Nate. Mine too.”
“Oh.”
Zephyr thought of Jordan and his heart sank. She’d gone only a day or two by herself and that was grueling enough. How long had these two been at it? More than a year on their own? Did they have any help at all?
“Are you really good?” Nate asked.
“Yes, we are,” Trey said.
Zephyr flashed the boys what he hoped was his brightest smile. “Hi Sam and Nathan. Can I call you Nate?”
“Yep.”
“Thanks. It’s so nice to meet you. I was wondering, how long have you two been here, and are you alone or do you have any friends to help you?”
“Just us,” Sam replied.
“For how long?”
“Since whenever everyone went away was. We met a grown up girl a while ago but someone took her, and ever since that, it’s just been us.”
Jesus, Zephyr thought. He understood that life was unfair, now more than ever, and yet these two living out here by themselves for more than a year— it was unfathomable.
“Sam, do you and Nate want to scoot on out from there now?” Trey asked. He placed his thick flashlight on its heel so that the beam shone at the ceiling. Immediately, the space was brighter, and Zephyr could see the kids much better. They were both skinny, both dirty.
“I don’t know,” Sam said. “You seem nice, but maybe we’ll just stay here if that’s OK.”
Now Rudy spoke up. “If we wanted to hurt you or your friend, we would’ve done it already.”
Well done, Mister Tact, Zephyr thought before he and Trey tripped over each other’s words in a clumsy attempt to overcompensate for the outburst. They needn’t have bothered, however, because somehow the big man’s simple, ugly truth proved most effective.
“OK,” Sam said and the two of them emerged from their hiding spot. Slowly at first, but they both came and finally took seats on the floor before Trey.
“Just so you know, we have no plans of hurting anybody,” Trey said.
“Thanks,” replied the older boy. He scratched at his thick, auburn hair and fidgeted. Zephyr estimated that mane housed a full colony of well-fed lice. Freckles covered his face and arms. He wore jeans, a collared shirt and sneakers. Nate, meanwhile, was shorter with dirty brown hair and donned a similar outfit. Both were skinny, but not malnourished. Somehow, they’d been eating. He wondered if the smoke was related.
“Hey guys,” he said without moving from his perch. “I have to tell you that I’m really impressed with how long you two have been out here by yourselves. Are you hungry or thirsty? We can feed you.”
The boy crossed his arms as if to warm himself. “No, thanks. We ate already. But, you know, thanks.”
“Sure. So this is where you guys live?”
Sam shrugged. “I guess, yeah, for the most part. We stay around the mall, but we’ve been here for a while. We go out sometimes, though.” He studied the tile. “Just not very much because some of the people out there are, well…”
“Bad guys,” Nate interjected.
“How do you eat? Where do you sleep? I mean, Jesus, what do you do every day?” Trey asked.
Nate started to rise. “You wanna see?”
The boys pushed aside an empty shelf to reveal a huge walk-in pantry stocked full of canned, jarred and even zip-sealed foods. A dozen unopened bags of potato and tortilla chips— probably all too stale to be good, and yet rare commodities all the same. Canned beans, oranges, peas, corn, and carrots. Stacks of soda cans. Candy of all kinds. Crackers, jars of peanut butter and jelly, apple sauce, and much more. It seemed like all the preservable food from the old world, and in abundance. Zephyr figured this supply would last these two at least another year, if not longer. It was a gold mine.
Trey whooped and twirled as he clutched something in his hands. “Holy shit, man. Taco-fucking-Doritos. They have Taco Doritos!” He clutched the bag as someone might a trophy.
“Sam, Nate, I will give you my left nut for this baby right now. Good grief! I never thought I’d see these again.”
Sam shrugged. “You can have ’em if you want.”
“Seriously?”
“Go for it.”
“Man, you just made a friend for life. No joke. Your legend will be passed down through my family for generations because of this.”
“Cool.”
“How did you get all of this?” Rudy asked.
“We found it here or at some of the places nearby. We’ve been saving as much as we can so we can make it last longer.”
Rudy didn’t waste any more time getting to his point. “Is there more somewhere?”
“I… think so.”
“Where?” the man asked. It seemed to Zephyr less a question and more an order.
“Why don’t you lay off a minute, man?” Trey said, holding up his hand. “It can wait.”
“We’re on a mission here, in case you forgot.”
Shannon stood between them and met his scowl. “Back off, tough guy. In case you forgot, they’re just kids.”
He leaned in, his eyes locked on hers, and Zephyr thought he might take a swing — that he actually might throw down with a girl, which would probably ignite a full-blown brawl. Something, anyway. None of them would stand for that kind of behavior, outmatched or not. Seconds dragged on as Zephyr considered all of this and prepared for the worst. However, the punch never came. Instead, the big man grunted. “Whatever. I’ll be on the horn with Command. Get your priorities straight.” Then he turned and stomped back toward the entrance.
“Asshole,” Trey whispered, and then winced before he fingered his tactical. “I really gotta remember to set this thing to manual.”
In the middle of all the food lay two mattresses covered in blankets and pillows. The boys had also dragged in a small television surrounded by piles of movies and video games.
“So this is what you do,” Trey said.
“This is our room, yeah,” Sam replied. “Power went out a couple weeks ago and we haven’t been able to watch or play very much since. Just a little.”
“Yep, it’s been pretty sucky,” Nate added.
“Sounds like an understatement,” Trey said. “Wait, though, how do you watch anything at all?”
“We found some of these mega batteries, and then we got the TV working again. But the charges don’t last very long. Like, a few hours. So when we want to watch a movie or play something, we gotta take the batteries up a few blocks and recharge them.”
Trey whistled. “What a disaster.”
“Why not just move to one of the other buildings then?” Zephyr asked.
Sam shrugged again. “We have all of our food here and it’d take forever to move it and we like it here, anyway. It’s not so bad getting the batteries recharged.”
Zephyr couldn’t take it any longer. “You guys, it’s cool that you’ve been surviving out here, but you know you could leave this all behind and come live with us, right? It’s safe. I mean, we can protect you. We’ve got a whole city of people, with electricity, our own rooms. It’s a lot warmer than the mall, too, I can tell you that.” He paused. “We’ve even got a big swimming pool.”
If Sam was impressed by any of this, he sure didn’t show it. The kid was really hard to read. Zephyr expected giddiness and saw only blank composure in its place. Another star poker player in-the-making, no doubt. The boy’s calm, thoughtful manner was simultaneously striking and pitiable for the same reason, which was that it stripped him of his adolescence. He acted older than he had any right to be. In stark contrast, Nate was beaming. The younger boy tugged on Sam’s shirt and murmured something indistinct, but it went ignored.
“It’s not far from here,” Zephyr continued. “It’s a new city. Really more like a handful of buildings. There’s all sorts of people and we’re try—”
“No,” the boy blurted and then regained his equilibrium. “Sorry – but no, that’s all right. Thank you, but we’re pretty good here. We’re,” he started to say something and then stopped. “Thanks, really. Thanks a lot… for the offer, but we’re fine here.”
“Why not?” Nate pleaded. “Can we go, Sam? We should go.”
“Not now,” he whispered.
“Nate has the right idea on this one,” Zephyr joked, but Sam didn’t look amused.
“No. I just think you guys should go because we have stuff to do here. OK?” When nobody said anything, he turned to Trey. “Go ahead and take the Doritos.”
Trey grinned at him. “Hey, thanks, kid. You did me a legit solid, so let me do you one in return. He ain’t too bright, and he sure as hell ain’t pretty. This once, though, Zeph here is actually right. You’re free to do what you want, but you should really think about this offer. We’re living pretty large compared to your little setup here. There are others your age, too.”
The boy nodded fast. “Sure, thanks. I’ll think about it. Thank you. We’re not ready to do anything just yet.”
“I’m ready. I want to go, Sam.” Nate implored now. “Please. They have electricity there, and I want to go swimming. I’ll let you have my 3DS if you say yes.”
“I don’t want your 3DS.”
“It sounds like Nate wants to give it a try,” Trey said.
“I do – can we? Please? You can have any of my games, I don’t care.”
Sam shook his head. “Not yet, Nate. I don—” he started to say and then paused, but not before Zephyr heard the tremble in his voice. Was he scared?
“All right, totally your decision,” Zephyr started, and threw up his hands. “I get it. You don’t know us and it’s a pretty messed up world out there. You’re playing it safe and I totally understand that, believe me. I was in your position more or less a few months ago and I didn’t have good reason to trust anybody, either. All I’m gonna say is – and there’s no way to convince you but look at me and you’ll see that I’m telling the truth here – we are genuinely trying to help. That’s all. We’re not here to hurt anyone. We really are the good ones. I mean that as literally as possible. And—”
He stopped mid-sentence, struck by his own words. The good ones. Maybe the problem was that not everyone saw it that way.
“Sam, do you already know the place we’re talking about?” he asked, inspired.
The boy shrugged.
“Sorry – does that mean yes?”
Sam seemed to study his shoes for a moment and then nodded.
Word had spread then. Had some of those turned away told lies about the city? If so, maybe Sam believed the hearsay. That would definitely explain his behavior.
Nate tugged on the older boy’s shirt. “Know what?” But the question was ignored.
“What’s it called?” Zephyr asked.
Sam shrugged. “What’s it matter?”
“Humor me.”
He met Zephyr’s gaze – and, yes, he saw fear in his eyes. “Alpha.”
“What’s happening here, dude?” Trey asked. “I’m not following this.”
“I think someone’s been telling some tall tales about Alpha and poor Sam here believes them.” He turned back to the boy. “Let me guess. Alpha is a city of – what? – evildoers, or Satan worshippers, or what have you? Maybe something like we chain up our people and hold weekly book-burning ceremonies? Drink the blood of goats and that kind of stuff? Any of that ringing a bell?”
The boy stared back at him and gave no response.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” Zephyr asked and when no reply came, he smiled. “Sure, I am.”
“Dude, we need a fucking public relations department —this shit is nuts,” Trey joked.
Zephyr continued. “Listen, whatever you’ve heard, it isn’t true. And anybody who says otherwise, I don’t know how to tell you this, but if they’re badmouthing Alpha, it’s probably because they were not allowed in. We have a system—it’s a long story, but the short of it is, we have a screening process.”
Trey snorted. “Yeah, and the
irony is that we only turn the bad guys away, so talk about the pot calling the kettle fucking black.”
“Yah, that’s a good one,” Sam practically spat. “Except, I didn’t hear anything.”
Then, unprompted, he turned his back on them, lowered his head, and tugged down his collar. A scabby ‘X’ stretched across the full of his nape. In bad light, it might’ve been a tattoo, but there was no mistaking the wound now.
“You see it?” the boy asked.
“Hard to miss,” Trey replied. “What in the sheep fuck happened to you, kid?”
Sam turned back to face them. “Don’t play stupid. You can go back now. I think we’re done here.” There was an edge to his tone that hadn’t existed before.
“Sam, seriously, what happened? We’re not fooling around. We really don’t understand,” Zephyr said.
The boy chuckled. “What happened?” Now his words quivered with emotion and Zephyr understood that the unruffled demeanor was merely a well-worn facade. “What the hell do you think happened? Alpha happened, as if you didn’t know that,” he said.
“What do you mean? Spell it out, kid,” Trey said.
The boy’s face showed a mixture of incredulity and rage. “This is for real, huh?” he asked and shook his head. “I went there, but unlike you, they turned me out. Surprise, surprise, I’m not good enough for your precious city. ‘Sorry Samuel, good luck’ and all that. And the best part is that they were kind enough to burn this ‘X’ onto my neck to mark me. Because they’re— you’re— the good guys, right?”
Shannon gasped. “Who did this to you?”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Ask me a serious question.”
She laid her hands on his shoulders. “Sam, why is that mark there?”
He shook free of her grasp. “Why the hell do you think? I’m one of your so-called bad guys, you idiot.”
37
Three hours later, Zephyr paced the length of the same clean, white hallway that they’d been escorted through months ago. Nearby, an armed, expressionless guard blocked his way from the sterile interrogation room, now occupied by Janis, Karen, Alec, and at least one newcomer. All he could do was wait for the conversation to be over, and yet waiting seemed an impossibility under the circumstances.
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