The kids were bathed as well, in an actual tub with heated water. According to Mrs. Koontz, the matronly woman minding the kids, Daniel had been fussy and combative, but she managed to get him clean.
“The young boy has diaper rash,” she told Vincenzo. “Don’t you have some ointment you could put on him after diaper changes?”
“Uh, no,” Vincenzo said.
The woman harrumphed. “Well, perhaps you could trade for some, since you’ll be traveling with him.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll try to do that.” But he wondered if trading for ointment was really that high of a priority. He didn’t recall Daniel complaining, but Vincenzo figured he needed to be a little more vigilant since the boy was mostly nonverbal.
“Missy or Terrell can help you with that,” Mrs. Koontz said. “Really, you need to follow through on it. The boy needs to be taken care of until you can get him to his mother. And by the way, Terrell told me you have no booster seats in your truck. You might want to remedy that, as well.”
The look the she gave him made Vincenzo feel as though he were being lectured by a very stern nun. Just like Sister Mary at Saint Francis in the good old days.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, attempting to sound agreeable just in case the older woman had a ruler she might slap across his knuckles. “So, uh, where are the kids?”
“Eating lunch, of course. They’re very hungry,” Mrs. Koontz said.
“Lunch does sound pretty good right about now,” Vincenzo said.
She sniffed and pointed down the hallway. “The children are down there. You brought food, so feel free to have some. And I might recommend you take the time to do some laundry.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Vincenzo said.
Mrs. Koontz left with another sniff, heading in the opposite direction. Vincenzo ambled down the hall and found a small dining area. Both of the kids were there, as were Missy and Forrest. Missy seemed engrossed in Daniel, who appeared mostly oblivious to her presence. Gabby was engaged in an animated conversation with Forrest, but she looked up when Vincenzo walked in.
“Hi, Tony!” she fairly shouted.
“Hi, Gabby. Hi, Daniel,” Vincenzo responded. “What are you guys eating?”
“I got a salami san’widge,” Gabby said. “Daniel has more macaroni.”
“A salami sandwich? Where did you get that?” Vincenzo asked.
“From Mister Forrest! He made it with mustard and potato chips!”
Vincenzo looked over at Forrest. The big man smiled thinly.
“Well, I always liked potato chips on my sandwiches,” he said.
Vincenzo smiled. “Hey, man, nothing wrong with that. Listen, Mrs. Koontz advised me that I need to get some ointment for Daniel. I guess I’m having some trouble keeping him clean out in the world, and he’s developing some diaper rash. Could I trade you something for it?”
“And car seats,” Missy added, looking up from Daniel.
Vincenzo nodded. “Yeah, and car seats.”
“Well, those you might be able to pick up on the road,” Forrest said. “Check in the abandoned vehicles you come across. We have some here, but it wasn’t exactly an item we stocked up on, and as you might have noticed, we do have kids here.”
“There are kids here,” Gabby said. “I saw them.”
“You sure did, little girl,” Forrest said, and in that instant, Vincenzo saw that the burly survivalist who feared an attack by the United Nations was just another big lug who loved kids. “Anyway, yeah, we have what you need. We can arrange a trade.”
“Thanks,” Vincenzo said. “If it’s okay with you, I’ll head down to the truck and grab some chow. What do I owe you for the salami and chip sandwich?”
“Oh, that’s on the house,” Forrest said. “We’re good.”
“Well, thanks.”
Vincenzo ate a warm meal and watched as Gabby and Daniel were introduced to a small group of their peers. Gabby immediately set about playing with them, whereas Daniel maintained his distance, both physically and emotionally. He seemed totally uninterested in other kids, focusing only on his hanger or flipping through the pages of a book. Whenever any of the other kids tried to get him involved in a game, Daniel ignored them. But Vincenzo could see the boy was getting stressed. His free-form vocalizations became more strident, and he flipped the hangar with more urgency.
Missy walked over to stand beside Vincenzo. “Looks like he’s starting to destabilize,” she said.
“Yeah. Maybe I should take him for a walk,” Vincenzo said.
“I can do that, if you don’t mind.”
Vincenzo looked at her. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “Of course.” She kept her face blank, but Vincenzo could see the undercurrent of some strong emotion in her eyes.
“If you think you can handle him, sure,” Vincenzo said. “I guess I’ll stay here with Gabby.”
“She’ll be fine if you want to come with me,” Missy said.
Gabby was decisively engaged with her new playmates, and Mrs. Koontz had returned to oversee their activities. So Vincenzo went with Missy and Daniel for a walk around the inside perimeter of the compound. Daniel seemed happier outside. After a few minutes, he ran ahead, his attention divided between the hanger in his right hand and the greenery on the other side of the tall fence. Armed men and women regarded him with cool eyes. Missy waved to them, and they always waved back.
“Looks like he prefers it out here,” Vincenzo said, watching Daniel dart and bob in front of them, as if he were playing an imaginary game of tag.
“He probably does,” Missy said. “Autistic kids can get stressed in social situations. Too much sensory input hitting them all at once.” She glanced over at him. “You know anything about autism, Tony?”
Vincenzo shook his head. “Aside from what I saw in Rain Man, not really.”
“You need to get him to his people as soon as you can. Whatever’s happening out there is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.”
“Yeah, the UN thing,” Vincenzo said.
Missy looked at him sharply. “Don’t think Forrest is an idiot because he loves the country and thinks it’s being driven into the ground to appease external interests. He’s not wrong, you know. Maybe a little too convinced that it’s all happening as we speak, but he’s not wrong.”
Vincenzo raised his hands. “Hey, I didn’t mean anything.”
“It’s okay. I understand it’s a little odd to people who aren’t like us.”
“You think the UN is going to take over the country, too?”
Missy shrugged. “I don’t know. I do know our government is ruining the country, though. We were a diminished nation even before the event.”
Daniel became suddenly fascinated with his fluttering fingers. Then he took off in a staggering run again.
She pointed at him. “He needs a lot of therapy. A lot of care. Are you ready to take care of him, Tony? What if something goes wrong on the way to Charity Point? What if you lose your vehicle?”
Vincenzo considered her questions. “I don’t know,” he said after a long moment. “Are you suggesting I leave him and his sister here with you guys?”
Missy shook her head sadly. “Forrest won’t allow it. We’ve already had that discussion. He’s sympathetic, but he knows we’re in for the long haul. We have what we have for who we have to provide for. He agrees that turning away the needy, especially children, isn’t very Christian, but he’s being pragmatic.”
“Pragmatic,” Vincenzo repeated. “Okay.”
“It sounds harsh, but he’s not that way as a person. He cares. More than anything, he cares. But this is going to go on for years, and we always knew that if we had to start up this place, then it was going to be for us, no one else.”
“It’s a vicious world out there, Missy. And it’s getting worse by the day. The government can’t seem to get a handle on things, and it’s been more than just a couple of days.”
“I know that. We know that. Things are going t
o get a lot worse, especially as we get closer to winter. But Forrest is the leader, and he’s been doing right by us. Everyone knows we’ll have to make some tough calls, but we didn’t invest so much in this place to let it be overrun by those who didn’t think to prepare.” Missy gave him a sideways look. “You’re lucky I was out there at the OP. If Terrell had been the watch commander, he would have let you guys go, and if you’d found him, he would have taken everything you had.”
Vincenzo grunted. He figured Terrell was that kind of man, and hearing Missy confirm it was oddly validating, in a way. “I guess luck is part of it. At least I’ll be able to score some ointment for Daniel’s little butt. Don’t think I’m not thankful for the generosity you’ve shown us, though. I appreciate everything you’ve done for us.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, and there was a heavy gravity in her voice that resonated with Vincenzo.
They watched Daniel cavort across the ground, chirping in a sing-song voice and having a one-sided conversation that only he would ever understand.
“I had a daughter,” Vincenzo blurted. “She was born prematurely. She died, and my wife kind of died with her. She was never the same after that. Everything was different. She treated me differently, treats our son differently. That’s why I need to get back to Los Angeles. She’s not ready for this, and my boy is going to suffer along with her.” Vincenzo stopped walking. “So that’s why I’d like you to ask Forrest about watching over the kids again. I’m not ready to take care of them. I have someplace I need to be. And to be truthful, taking care of people is not something I’ve ever been very good at. I’ve met my quota on that, and while Daniel and Gabby are beautiful kids, they’re holding me up.”
“I’ll speak to him again,” Missy said. “But I’m pretty sure I know what the answer will be. You’re stuck with them, Tony. And if you don’t take them with you, Forrest and Terry and the others won’t take kindly to that. You might forfeit everything you have. That truck. That gear. Everything has a cost, and everyone has to pay sometime.”
Vincenzo sighed. “Ask him again. If the answer’s no, then we’re out of your hair. I’ll get the kids to their mother, but it seems like it’s something I’ll need to do sooner rather than later.”
An hour later, Tony was leaning over the Blazer’s engine to check the oil when Forrest approached. Gabby and Daniel were in a play area with a couple of other children, under the watchful gaze of the hawkish Mrs. Koontz. There was an air of hostility around the big man, and when he stopped next to Vincenzo, he practically towered over him, even though Vincenzo was standing on the Blazer’s big bumper.
“You got some nerve, guy,” Forrest said.
“How so?”
“Sending Missy to ask that the kids be allowed to stay. You just want to palm them off on us while you roll away in another man’s ride, with another man’s supplies, so you can go off and do whatever you want to do.”
Vincenzo straightened. “It’s not what I want to do, guy. It’s what I have to do.”
Forrest moved closer, looming over Vincenzo like an angry, dangerous god. “What you have to do is get those kids to Charity.” He stabbed Vincenzo in the chest with one finger. “You picked ’em up. They’re your responsibility, not mine. Not ours. Yours.”
“And what happens if I get taken out? What happens if those marauders catch us on the road? I know what happens to me, Forrest, but what about them?” Vincenzo spread his arms, no easy feat while perched on the Blazer’s front bumper. “I know how to hunt turkeys, but aside from that, I’ve got no skills, man.”
“You say you managed to kill a few people in a standup,” Forrest said.
“Yeah, and that was by luck and because I shot first.”
Forrest stepped back a bit, his expression cloudy. He regarded Vincenzo with suspicious eyes then motioned toward the Blazer. “You almost finished up here?”
Vincenzo replaced the dipstick and wiped his hands on a rag. “Yeah.” He hopped down off the bumper.
“Then come with me. I want to show you something.”
Forrest led him to a training area complete with shooting range behind the concrete building. He showed Vincenzo how to shoot the M1A and his pistols and how to purify water with bleach. He explained the basics of camouflage and showed him some hand-to-hand combat techniques. He showed Vincenzo how to use a knife to kill a man, how to fight off someone who was going for his pistols, how to break an opponent’s fingers and wrists and collarbones. None of it was easy, and by the time darkness fell, Vincenzo felt beat up and battered. Forrest was hardly a gentle teacher when it came to the hard arts of combat.
Forrest finally slapped him on the back, signaling the instruction was at an end. “There. Now you’re a little more ready for the road. You remember this stuff, you’ll be all right. Remember, be smart and avoid contact wherever possible, but if it comes looking for you, be aggressive and act first. You won’t get much in the way of second chances, especially as time goes on.”
“Thanks for the tips,” Vincenzo said.
“Don’t thank me. I didn’t do it for you. I did it for the kids.”
“I know,” Vincenzo said, already thinking about having a nice bowl of milk and Tylenol. “Thanks anyway.”
Forrest grunted and looked back at the squat concrete building in the growing gloom. “Come on. Let’s get back. It’s dinnertime. You guys can bunk with us tonight, but after that, you’re on your own.”
The kids seemed happy to see Vincenzo when he got back to the building, as if they’d had their fill of consorting with strangers. Gabby clung to him like a second skin, and even Daniel stuck close by, softly babbling to himself as he favored Vincenzo with a sweet smile. Vincenzo patted him on the head then ushered both kids to the dining area. They ate food he brought in from the Blazer. Daniel had more macaroni and cheese, while Gabby had a can of soup. The rest of the folks in the survivalist camp made small talk with him and the kids, but Vincenzo could tell they’d worn out their welcome, except with Missy. She watched the kids, especially Daniel, with sad eyes. Vincenzo wondered how long she could survive in a world where pain was going to be her constant companion. Then, he remember how Jessie had been wasting away in Los Angeles, and he realized there was nothing that could be done for Missy. She would either get through the coming months of darkness, or she wouldn’t.
After eating, Vincenzo went out to rearrange the gear in the back of the truck. Even though the preppers hadn’t helped themselves to anything, Terrell’s search had been thorough, and the supplies were haphazardly tossed around in there. It took Vincenzo an hour to organize and repack everything, and by then, it was full-on dark.
The sleeping quarters on the second story were full, so Vincenzo spread their sleeping bags in a corner on the ground floor. He helped the kids brush their teeth and get ready for bed. Gabby was easy, since she had the routine down cold even at her young age. Daniel kept turning his head away from the toothbrush. Missy tried to help, but surprisingly, Daniel was even less open to her than to Vincenzo. Vincenzo finally grabbed the boy’s chin and held his face in place. Daniel became a little more compliant, though he still whined throughout the process. He smacked his lips when Vincenzo finished.
“See, that wasn’t so bad. Was it?” Vincenzo asked him.
Daniel made a raspberry and waved his hands in front of his face. “Pawty, please.”
Vincenzo took him to the small restroom and sat him on the toilet. That was a struggle, as well. While Daniel had no problem standing in front of a toilet to pee, sitting down on one was apparently a different matter. He kept trying to get up and leave, and he squawked and cried when Vincenzo refused to let him. It took the better part of an hour, but eventually Daniel did what he had to do. Once the boy was finished, Vincenzo wiped him clean then washed his hands and face. The kids changed into some pajamas that had been laundered by the preppers, free of charge. Gabby was able to dress herself, but Vincenzo had to take care of Daniel. He put on a fresh diaper and helpe
d him step into his pajamas, then pulled the top over his head. Vincenzo found himself getting angry at this point. The boy just wasn’t able to do anything on his own.
Suck it up and get him to his mother, guy, he told himself. Just get through the next couple of days.
At one point, Gabby became a bit weepy. She asked Vincenzo how he thought her father was doing. Vincenzo said her dad was just fine and that she see him when they got to her mother. He had no problem telling the lie. It was certainly preferable to passing on that her father’s cold corpse was probably feeding thousands of bugs and birds and raccoons back in Pennsylvania.
They got into their sleeping bags and got comfortable. There was an armed guard on the floor with them, and more patrolled the grounds outside. When the generator was cut off for the night, Daniel reached out and touched Vincenzo’s lips in the darkness. Vincenzo tried to dissuade him from that, but there was no stopping the boy. Daniel apparently needed the contact in order to wind down for the day. Gabby was already asleep, her breathing deep and heavy. After a few minutes of rustling about, Daniel slipped into sleep as well.
Vincenzo lay on his back and listened to the sounds of the building as it cooled in the night, his thoughts on the trip before him, and of his family.
Sleep took its sweet time in finding him.
35
Vincenzo awoke hours later to the sounds of people running through the concrete building. At first, he thought he was dreaming, so he just lay there between the two kids, blinking in the semi-darkness.
A shape crouched over him. “Tony?” Missy whispered.
Vincenzo rubbed his eyes then got up, glad he had slept in his clothes. Missy led him a few feet away, where several men were in the midst of arming themselves. A grim-faced Terrell was among them, but Vincenzo didn’t see Forrest.
“What’s up?” Vincenzo asked.
“The OP to the south was overrun,” Missy said, her voice tight. “The same place where we found you and the kids. Some force rolled up on them and took out all but one of the guys. He’s hunkered down, keeping them in sight, and it looks like they’re heading up here.”
Charges Page 35