“Do you really think I’d lead you all the way out here without a plan?” Cole turned to face me, but kept moving backward so we didn’t stop.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m thinking.”
Stores, homes, shelves, and pantries, all lay behind us—places to scavenge and find sustenance so we could keep living. Only dirt roads and sagebrush lay ahead—death in the form of barren landscape.
“You and me? We’re a team, right?” He waited for me to answer.
I nodded. “Sure.”
He pointed to himself. “Then let this part of the team lead us for a bit. I know I said this was your thing and that you were the leader, but sometimes a good leader needs to delegate. You can always go back to being in charge tomorrow.”
I didn’t know if I ever wanted to be in charge, but Cole annoyed me and didn’t take things seriously, so of the two of us, I seemed like the better candidate to run this show. For now, I’d just follow him. “Yeah, you be in charge. I’m cool with that.”
“Do people still say ‘cool’?” He smirked. “Didn’t that go away with the eighties?”
I was too tired and too drained from everything that had happened to defend my words. “I don’t know, I wasn’t born in the eighties. I used it. Whatever.”
“See? Now ‘whatever’ seems more like something your generation would say.” He looked over his shoulder and back to me while walking backward.
“My generation? You’re not that much older than me.”
“How old do you think I am?” He raised a brow.
“Mentally or physically?”
“Ha, ha. You’re funny. Come on? Guess.”
I tossed out a random number. “Twenty-three.”
“Nope. Guess again.” His grin widened.
“You’re not older than twenty-five, are you?”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” He sidestepped a divot along the dirt road without even turning around to see it. Impressive.
“Twenty-six.”
He smiled huge and pointed at me, and for a moment, I thought I had guessed correctly. “So close, but nope.”
“I give up. All I know is you’re too old to do half the crap you do.”
“Age is only a number, really. Why let a number define you? So maybe I’m twenty-four or maybe I’m not, but should that keep me from going roller skating if I wanted to?”
Roller skating? What in the world is he talking about?
“I say no. If an eighty-year-old wants to skydive, then so be it. If I want to blow soap bubbles in the park, then why not? Why is riding a tricycle good for a three-year-old but looks odd for a thirty-year-old?” He pointed at me, a little more sternly this time. “Don’t let your number define you.”
I smiled. “So, if I want to have a beer or a tall glass of wine, then I shouldn’t let being seventeen stop me? Good to know.”
My goading brought him to a complete halt. “No. Do what you want except for that. Your brain is still growing. Don’t screw it up. Wait until you’re older to mess around with the chemical makeup of your mind.” He started walking backward again. “But feel free to jump rope or eat bubblegum when you’re ninety. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it because you’re old and shouldn’t mess up your dentures.”
What are we even talking about? “Let me get this right. While I’m a kid, I still have to obey rules like no smoking or drinking, but as an adult I can do whatever I want?”
“Pretty much.”
“This has to be one of the weirdest conversations I’ve ever had.”
“Maybe, but you’re talking now, aren’t you? And you’re not thinking about everything happening back in the city either, right? Sometimes weird conversations are necessary.” He flipped back around and walked forward, as normal people do. “We’re almost there,” he called over his shoulder.
“Wait? What? Almost where?” I looked around but couldn’t see anything.
“There!” He raised his arm and pointed to the distance. The glare of the sun bounced off a metal surface, which I couldn’t quite identify.
“What is it?”
He turned and winked. “I told you I had a lair.”
Cole told me to wait outside as he slid open the large hanger doors only wide enough for himself to pass through. “Give me a sec. I want you to see it in all its glory.” The door slid shut.
I looked down at Callie in my arms. “I know. This is totally weird.”
A second later, Cole pushed the doors all the way open, stood back and swept his arm to the side. “Welcome to my humble abode.”
Humble, my ass.
I took a tentative step forward, and my mouth dropped open as I took it all in. Intended to house airplanes, Cole had transformed the interior of the metal hanger into something else entirely, and I could hardly believe it.
Strands of white Christmas lights and decorative Chinese lanterns draped from one side to the other. The largest RV sat parked to one side with its canopy drawn and an indoor/outdoor rug thrown on the cement ground with a beautiful patio dining set on top—seating for ten. A little much, but with everything else going on, I guess having a dining table for ten didn’t seem all that strange.
A movie screen with theater seating and a popcorn machine sat in one corner of the hanger. In another, a steaming hot tub with lounge furniture, robes and flip-flops, all under a gazebo. A freaking hot tub!
Another section of the hangar looked like a grocery store with shelves fully lined with canned goods, bottled water, and paper products.
Cole had thought of everything. He had a place to take a shower. He had a hammock, a putting green, and a small garden area—barley sprouting—all under artificial lighting. He’d even parked a red Ferrari, turned at an angle, to add to the madness.
“That’s for show,” he said, indicating the car. “But it’s nice to sit in and pretend you’re going somewhere. I’ll let you sit in it as long as you promise not to scratch up the leather. There’s a no cats allowed policy that goes along with my offer though.”
“Where did you get all of this?” I shook my head. I knew exactly where he’d gotten it all. “Forget it, how did you get it all here and”—I waved my arm at the lights and everything—”how does any of this even work?”
“I used a truck and my muscles.” He flexed. “Believe it or not, I’m stronger than I look, and as for the power, well, I pilfered enough generators and solar panels to keep everything going comfortably for a good while. Had to do a lot of rewiring and grounding of cables, and I’m always replacing a solar panel or two, but for now, it does a decent job. I’ve got candles and battery-operated lanterns, just in case.” He smiled. “Do you like it?”
“Yeah, it’s... it’s great, but none of this is yours, right?” It looked awesome and everything, but I had to remember it had all been stolen, just like the grill he continued to hold. People would want their stuff back and we might end up in jail because of it.
“Possession is nine tenths of the law.” He ushered me inside and slid the large doors into place. “So don’t rain on my parade.”
Always with the idioms, though he’d gotten this one right.
“Are you sure about this?” I stood there, a bit afraid to touch anything, but really kind of wanting to.
“Well, if the feds come, we’ll tell them we found it this way and we were keeping an eye on it until everyone got back. We were being good citizens.” He headed toward the RV and slipped his shoes off before entering the open door. “You coming?”
“If I put Callie down, she can’t get out, can she?”
“No, it’s locked up tight, but we’re going to have to figure out her living arrangements. You know, where’s she gonna poop and what’s she gonna eat. For you and me, I’ve got all that covered, but I hadn’t planned on taking care of animals, so we’ll have to work something out.”
I set my cat down but left the leash on in case I needed to grab her. She stretched her legs and arched her back, then started exploring and rubb
ing herself on everything.
“Great. Cat hair.” He sighed. “Oh well, come on. Let me show you something.”
When I got to the door of the RV, he yelled at me to take off my shoes. My Doc Martens were beat up and rather filthy. It took me a moment to remove them, and when I noticed my brown smelly socks, I took those off too. I hadn’t showered in who knows how long and the stench was something awful.
“You coming?”
I grabbed the railing and climbed the few steps until I entered the biggest RV I’d ever seen–bigger than some apartments my friends lived in. Nicer too. The slide outs made it huge. Wow. “How did you get this?”
He looked at me with a blank expression. “Do you realize you ask the same questions over and over?” He let out his breath. “I went to the dealership, found the keys, and then drove the sucker over here. It was a pain in the ass, but I did it and I haven’t moved it since. Anything else?”
“No, I guess that’s it.” The plush couch beckoned to me, but I didn’t dare sit on it, not when I was covered in filth. The interior still had its “new car” smell and being surrounded by so many clean things, new things, my own awfulness shone from me like a neon sign.
“Okay, I’ve already claimed the bed in the back, which by all rights is mine since I was the one who drove this thing here. Did you know it took me three hours to drive twenty miles?”
I shook my head.
“It did. Like I said, the roads are a mess and this RV isn’t easy to maneuver, but it was worth it. There’s a set of bunk beds in the back, not big, but nice. Since you’re a kid, you might like it. Or, there’s a pullout bed in the front. It’s bigger, sleeps two if you feel like you need a lot of room to move around at night. Totally up to you. Mi casa es su casa.”
“What about finding my dad?” He’d made a very nice home for himself here, but this wasn’t my home, and I didn’t want him to forget that.
“We’re still going to find him. Nothing has changed, but we need rest and we need a plan, because climbing Rockport isn’t going to be easy.”
Hearing him say “we’re going to find him” eased my worries. He still planned to come with me, even though after I’d seen this place, I figured he wouldn’t want to leave.
“What was it you wanted to show me?” Unless the RV was the surprise.
“Oh, yeah!” He opened the door to the bathroom and when he returned, he told me to put out my hands.
I held them out, palms up, and he placed a trial sized bottle of shampoo and a new bar of soap in my hands. Not what I expected. “This is called soap. Use it. I don’t mind sharing my abode with you, but Tess, you are smelling mighty ripe, my friend. You and that cat of yours. I’ll show you how to use the shower then when you’re done, we’ll tackle bathing the cat.” He smiled. “That should be some fun. I’m kind of looking forward to it.”
“Cole?”
“Yeah?”
I swallowed hard. “Thank you, for everything. I know I wasn’t being very nice to you before, but I just want to say I’m sorry. If I hadn’t found you, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now.”
He smiled and patted my shoulder. “You’re a good kid, a smart kid. I’m sure you would’ve managed. Sometimes we don’t know how strong we are or what we’re capable of doing until we’re forced to find out.”
Wow. He actually said something meaningful. “Thanks.”
We stood there in awkward silence for a moment before he spoke. “This kind of feels like a hugging moment, but seriously, Tess, you reek.”
“Go on, get in.” Cole drew the curtain aside. Steamy water ran from the makeshift showerhead, and he placed his hand in it. He then flicked the water droplets in my direction, wetting my face and forcing me to blink to keep the water from getting in my eyes. “It’s ready for ya.”
“Umm... I’m not going to get electrocuted or something, am I?” Even with everything he’d done to make the hanger homey—well, rich people homey—it didn’t look safe. Cords covered in duct tape, keeping them in place, ran from one side of the hangar to the other, snaking about in a crazed and dangerous pattern. It was creative and ingenious on a certain level, but this was Cole. Ingenious and genius were two totally different things.
“The shower and hot tub aren’t hooked up to anything that will kill ya.” He shook his head. “Wait, that’s technically not true. Don’t touch the wood-burning stove or drown in the water and you should be fine.”
He’d run an exhaust pipe out the side of the metal hanger, and amazingly, even though the miniature potbellied stove burned, heating up the copper coil carrying the water, I could hardly smell smoke. The scent was faint and actually quite pleasant.
“So it’s safe?”
“Of course. What do you take me for?”
“You were able to do all this, but you can’t hotwire a car?” The hanger with all its fancy, and somewhat unnecessary, gadgetry appeared a lot more daunting than twisting a couple of wires on a car.
He shrugged. “Who knows whether I can or can’t. I’ve never tried before. Are you going to get in or what? You’re wasting water.”
Wasting water? He had run a drain and tube to a planter of dirt which sprouted green unidentifiable shoots. I wasn’t going to eat any of that, but he seemed to have thought of everything, which had to be commended. All of this must have taken quite a bit of time to put together. But in an apocalypse, where the idea of being on your own sounded awesome, then his actions made total sense.
“There’s a t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts waiting for you.” He pointed to a nearby table. “Sorry, they’re the only underwear I have on hand, but no worries, they’re brand new, never been used. I promise.” He crossed his heart and held up several fingers, making a Boy Scout sign. “I have several packages. Next time we run into the city, you can grab all the feminine things you want. Until then, these will have to do.”
He squeezed my shoulder and walked around the dividing screen that gave the bathing area privacy. After a moment, the sound of music filled the room, the base booming a little heavier than normal through the speakers and echoing off the metal sides of the hanger.
It almost seemed natural—a shower, music, Cole humming along. If I closed my eyes, I could almost forget about everything, and feel normal.
But I didn’t close my eyes. Instead, I removed my dusty, sweaty clothes and dropped them in a pile at my feet.
The hot water on my back and shoulders burned a little, but soon I settled in and allowed it to flow over me completely. I enjoyed the music and the warmth on my skin, but quickly got to work. Cole was right, I didn’t want to waste water, so I scrubbed and cleaned myself, wishing he’d given me a razor along with the soap and shampoo. Boy, the hair on my legs and underarms made me resemble a Sasquatch more than a teenage girl.
“Cole?” I yelled over the water and hoped the music didn’t drown out my voice.
A few minutes later, his shadow appeared on the opposite side of the shower curtain. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, it’s wonderful, but you don’t by any chance have a razor on you, do you?”
“Ahh...maybe. Give me a sec.” He disappeared.
The next thing I knew, he’d thrust his hand into the shower, holding a disposable razor. I grabbed it from him and shielded myself, even though the curtain hid me. “Jeez, Cole! Boundaries!”
“Didn’t see a thing.” He disappeared once more.
I shook my head. Holy crap, he is something else.
I took only a couple of minutes to shave, then climbed from the shower and stood on the rubber floor mat to dry myself off before slipping on the large t-shirt and striped boxer shorts.
I felt amazing—clean, comfortable, and smelling like lemon verbena. I’d needed the shower for more reasons than simply washing the filth off. The water renewed me. But now, the heaviness of the day and everything we’d been though weighed down my eyelids and I couldn’t wait to sink into one of the beds and disappear into unconsciousness.
&
nbsp; I stepped around the screen, towel-drying my hair and saw Cole towel-drying Callie. He’d bathed her without me.
He looked up, but kept at his task. “You’ve got a weird cat.”
His statement did not surprise me in the least. Callie was a strange cat for sure.
“She didn’t even fight me when I poured water on her. I think this leash thing is messing with her head.” He finished and sat her on the floor.
She took a few steps, shook herself, then plopped down and started licking her paws.
“I was expecting a whole lot of struggle, but the darn cat let me do what I needed to do. She seemed to really enjoy it.” He tossed the wet towel to the side. “How was your shower?”
“It was fine. Thank you.” I wound my towel on top of my head like a turban.
“Tired?”
I nodded. “Very.”
“It’s been a crazy day.” He stood and started for the open door of the RV.
I followed, ready for the day to be over. “Yeah, it has.”
“Have you figured out which bed you want?” He waved an arm toward the bunks and then the pullout couch.
The bunk beds reminded me too much of the bunker and my months below ground. “I’ll take the couch.”
He opened a storage bench and removed a couple of pillows, a blanket, and some silk sheets—nice—and placed them in my arms. “You should really get some sleep. We’ve got a lot of planning and a lot of decisions to make in the next day or two.” He patted my towel- wrapped head. “I’ll be outside if you need anything.”
I made my bed, pulling out the couch until it lay wide open, and Callie climbed into the RV. She explored the space, checking out every nook, even climbing onto my bed, before going back outside again. I didn’t worry about her too much; she needed to wander and feel free, and so I let her do just that. Soon, she would be back on the leash, trapped and bound.
I removed my towel and ran my fingers through my wet hair to untangle it. Jeez, I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d run a brush threw it. Yeah, the world was a freakin’ mess but it didn’t mean I needed to look like crap. Tomorrow, I’d do better. I’d even ask Cole for some deodorant.
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