My heart sinks with the hopelessness of their situation, but at least they’re alive. Evan won’t be if we don’t get him medication soon. And if I pay them for something other than the goods they sell, I’m doing them a favor.
Reece is a step ahead of me, leaning over my shoulder. “We can give you a packet of UR military soap.”
Her eyes widen before disbelief fills them.
Stepping to my side, Reece extends his hand, a silver pouch in his palm. “Will Howard have antibiotics?”
The woman and girl stare at Reece’s hand and nod.
“Where can we find him?” Reece asks.
“He has a table by the soup cart. The one with the faded flower painted on the side. But Howard’s only there at night.”
I have no idea how these people know day from night down here. “How do you know he’s likely to have it?” I ask.
“He has connections.” The woman licks her lips then raises her gaze from Reece’s hand to his face, then mine. “What else you got to add to this?”
I have no idea if she’s telling us the truth, but she’s given us more information than we’ve gotten after walking around for forty-five minutes.
“Lavender,” Reece says.
“Lavender what?”
For a moment I think she doesn’t understand what lavender is, but she licks her lips again and stares at Reece’s backpack which is hanging from his arm.
I lean forward and whisper, “Exactly what you think it is.”
Reece pulls a small bag out of his pack. It’s one of the small packets he and Jo divvied up while I was with Evan in the house. “What kind of connections?” he asks.
“His brother works in the clinic. He skims some off for Howard to sell.”
I take a deep breath as Reece hands over the goods. She takes it and sniffs, then grins.
She could be lying to us, but I hope not. Her information is our best hope at this point.
I’m about to walk away when Reece pulls a small metal frame from his bag. “One more thing. Have you seen this woman?”
“Is that a picture?” She leans over the table, her face covered in amazement.
“Yeah…” Reece sounds confused. “But have you seen this woman? Her name is Deven. She might have been here.”
The vendor shakes her head, her eyes riveted to the frame. “Nope, never seen her. Ain’t never seen a photo before either. Not a new one and sure not an electronic one. Some people barter the old ones, but I don’t see the point.”
Reece turns toward me, and I pull the photo from his hand.
The woman in the picture looks a lot like Reece. They have the same eyes, but I’d noticed that in a photo in Reece’s room. “Is this your mom?”
“Yeah.” He takes it from me and stuffs it into his pocket. “I’m trying to get information on her as well as where the rebel base might be located.”
“Aren’t you worried about looking suspicious?”
He smirks and scans the room. “Here?”
He has a good point, but I can’t help worrying. Jo said to avoid attention and flashing a photo and asking for antibiotics seems the opposite of that.
We walk away from the table and Jo’s in front of me, grabbing my arm and jerking me to the side. “What was that?”
Her hateful tone stokes my anger. “We got information about where to get some antibiotics.”
She releases a derisive laugh and shakes her head. “From that woman?”
“She told us that a man named Howard is the most likely person to have it. His brother works at the clinic, and he skims some off for Howard to sell.”
Jo laughs. “You two got scammed. There’s no way she’s going to give you that information. She doesn’t even know you. She wouldn’t risk it.” Pausing, she smiles at me like I’m a small child. “I found a guy who says he can get what we need, but it won’t be until tomorrow night. Late.”
I look up at Reece, my breath caught in my chest. I don’t want to leave Evan that long. “But we need to check out what the woman said.”
Jo’s eyes narrow. “There is no Howard. That woman lied to you.”
Reece’s mouth twists to the side as he scans the crowd then turns his attention to Jo. “This is a huge market. Surely someone else has what we need.”
“True, but Germaine says there’s been an outbreak of pneumonia and people are going through the limited antibiotic supplies. What we get is going to cost a fortune.”
“How much?” I ask.
Jo’s face is expressionless. “I told him we’d pay a small bag of salt and a round of bullets.”
Reece’s voice hardens. “Bullets?”
“They’re about the most valuable commodity there is.”
My shoulders tense. Something feels wrong. Why won’t she at least check out the lead we found? “More than the tobacco?”
Her eyes narrow to slits. “No. But that’s only to be used for emergencies.”
I won’t let her dismiss me so easily. “This is an emergency. Did we bring it?”
Her mouth lifts into a smile, but disgust covers her face. “Yes, we brought it.” She looks into my eyes. “You’ll have to trust me on this, Chipper.”
But I don’t. I don’t trust her at all. “We’re going to keep looking, right?” I’m not leaving this market until I find Howard, with or without Jo’s help.
“Yeah, but don’t expect to find anything. Germaine said everyone is out. And desperate.”
I didn’t walk nine miles in the cold to sit around and wait for tomorrow night. “So we keep looking.”
She nods. “We keep looking.”
We wander for another half an hour, with Jo inquiring at places that look likely to have what we need. Reece and I make inquiries of our own. The woman’s lead is the only information we get, and no one knows Reece’s mother or anything about the rebel compound. But we find two sets of clothes for me, Evan and Reece. I also get a coat. Buying clothes here makes the Battlefield Mall seem like a lifetime ago. Even the Goodwill thrift store has nicer clothes than this. I get two pairs of jeans, a nubby green turtleneck sweater, and a cream-colored, heavy wool sweater covered in faded stains that looks like it will keep me warm. All things I wouldn’t have been caught dead in before. Now I care less about how ugly they are, only how warm the sweaters will be. Jo trades a solitary transistor radio to the vendor who sold us Reece’s and my clothes as well as the jeans, sweater and shirt I pick up for Evan.
“A radio?” I ask after we move away. I don’t see any other electronics in the market. “Why would they want a radio? How would they play it?”
“Anywhere else, it would be worthless. But Deacon’s got men working on electronics, trying to modernize things. That woman will sell it to Deacon’s men.”
Reece lowers his voice. “If you haven’t been here in so long, how do you know that?”
She narrows her eyes and puts a hand on her hip. “What are you implying?”
“What do you think?”
I step between them and put a hand on each of their shoulders to keep them apart. “Reece, stop.” While I agree with his suspicions, I’m not going to call her out yet. We need her.
“I know about the electronics,” she spits out, her anger contorting her face, “because anyone out in the real world knows Deacon’s been buying up electronics for a year now.”
The real world and not the cushy life she thinks we’ve lived. And while Reece complains about his government’s interference in his life, there’s no denying that his life has had comforts that Jo’s has not.
Reece looks away, cursing under his breath.
Jo jerks away from my hand. “That’s why I didn’t want Evan in Section Two. No one has cared two figs about electronics for years. They’ve been worthless. Now they’re a hot commodity. The clothes we just bought would have cost a month’s worth of food. So people are scouring Section Two looking for what might have been missed. Evan wouldn’t be safe there.”
I’m more confused than ever. Wh
y would she care about Evan’s safety if she’s up to something?
“Let’s get something to eat and go to the boarding house. We can get showers and sleep in a private room, then get up in the morning and start again.”
Reece nods, but I want to keep searching. We haven’t found Howard yet.
We stop at a cart with a line of several people. Chipped and faded paint clings to the sides of the wooden slats, and I see the vague outline of faded purple flowers.
Jo motions to the front. “We can get soup here.”
It’s the soup cart the woman mentioned. I elbow Reece and point toward the vendor.
His eyes light up and he leans toward the side of my face, his breath tickling my cheek. “Jo and I divided the lavender, bullets and tobacco between the three of us. You have small pouches of each in your pack. Tradable pouches.”
The full meaning of his words sinks in, and I scan the crowd for the man we’re looking for. We should have asked for specifics about what he looked like. I see at least twenty male vendors in close proximity.
Jo stands in front of us and opens her pack. She pulls out a cloth and unwraps five small potatoes, a couple of onions and a bunch of carrots. “The payment is the ingredients or something equivalent.”
I know the chests didn’t contain any vegetables, so this must have come from her own stash. When she reaches the counter, she orders for the three of us, handing over her vegetables as payment. I stand back, the crowd making me even more claustrophobic than I already feel deep underground.
She hands us both small bowls and we step away from the line. She brings her bowl to her lips and drinks, which explains the lack of spoons. The soup is a watery vegetable mixture and tastes surprisingly good. It’s more broth than substance, but it still fills my grumbling stomach.
We put our empty bowls into a box next to the cart and I wonder if the bowls are recycled before they are washed. I cringe, trying not to think about it.
Jo rubs her forehead. “Let’s call it a day.”
Reece pipes up before I get a chance. “We haven’t hit this row.”
She shakes her head, pity in her eyes. “If there were any medicine available, we would have found it by now. We need to rest. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
“We’re already here. Let’s spend another fifteen minutes and then we can go.”
Her shoulders lift with her deep inhale and she studies the row. “Fine. But it’s a waste of time.” She brushes past me, a confident swagger in her gait.
Reece leans close. “If we only have fifteen minutes, you and I need to split up.”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Be careful, Julia.”
Part of me is irritated that he thinks I might be incapable of getting the medicine without him. The other part is scared out of my mind. “You too.”
He moves to the right side, so I take the left.
Even though the woman said we were looking for Howard, I’m not dismissing tables with female vendors. One could be Howard’s wife.
I’ve hit six vendors when a crying baby catches my attention. The infant’s mother is crying too as she clutches the infant to her chest. The baby’s face is flushed and it releases a barky cough. I resist the urge to cover my face. No wonder everyone is sick with pneumonia. How can they not be? This place has to be an incubator of disease.
The woman clutches the shirt sleeve of a vendor who is setting his yard sale items on his table. “Please, I’m begging you. My baby needs cough medicine.”
He looks immune to her tears and tries to shake her hand off with disinterest. “No payment. No drugs.”
My ears perk up. I know Jo didn’t approach this vendor because he wasn’t here when she passed. I slide closer. “Do you sell medicine?”
His eyebrows rise and he grins. “I sell all kinds of things.”
“Are you Howard?”
His smile falls and he studies me. “It depends on what you’re looking for.”
“Antibiotics.”
He laughs, deep and throaty. “You and half the city.”
“But I can pay.”
“Most people can’t afford it.” He watches me with amusement as we study each other. The way he eyes me up and down tells me that he knows I’m not from around here and might be capable.
My pulse pounds in my head, and I stuff my shaking hand into my pocket. I need to look confident and in control. “How much?”
“A pint of any summer fruit or vegetable will do it.”
Summer fruit or vegetables. It’s the end of October or even perhaps the first of November. I’ve lost track of the days. “That’s impossible.”
“And yet it’s my price.” He resumes his task of setting out his wares, ignoring me.
I refuse to be dismissed so quickly. “I don’t believe you have any antibiotics.”
He laughs again. “I guess you’ll never know.”
I don’t have time to waste dickering with this man and decide to go straight to the top of what I can pay. “How about tobacco?”
His grin falls away and he stares at me, expressionless. “You have tobacco.” It’s not a question.
“Maybe.” I bluff, now wondering if my strategy was a good idea.
His eyes sparkle with greed. “Sweetheart, I can get you the moon for tobacco.”
“I only want antibiotics.” I motion to the woman next to me. “And cough medicine for her baby.”
The mother’s mouth drops open.
The vendor laughs again, but it’s tight and forced. “I can give her the cough medicine now, but I can’t get yours until tomorrow morning.”
“And you can promise it will be tomorrow morning?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die. But you pay me up front.”
If I give him the tobacco, there’s no guarantee he’ll come back, even if he does get the medicine. “I’ll give you some lavender now and the tobacco tomorrow.”
He coughs and it sounds like he’s choking. “You have lavender?”
I slip my backpack off my shoulders and unzip the top. Several small pouches are stuffed under my blanket. I pull one out and sniff it, thankful the first one is lavender. I place it in his shaky, outstretched palm.
He leans forward and sniffs. His face twists into what I think is ecstasy. “Oh, my God. It is lavender. I’d almost forgotten what it smelled like.” His eyes find mine and narrow. “Where’d you get it?”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
He sniffs the bag again. “I need to see the tobacco now or no deal.”
Howard stuffs the lavender into his pants pocket with his shaking hand. Tiny droplets of sweat dot his upper lip, and I know he’s not warm from the temperature in the cave. Jo says the interior is around seventy degrees Fahrenheit year round. We shed our coats minutes after entering.
I square my shoulders with renewed confidence. “You know if I can get lavender that I can bring the tobacco. It’s that or no deal.”
The truth is that I’d give everything I have right at this moment to save Evan. But then, this guy’s probably counting on that. Only someone desperate would pay this much.
“Deal.” He pulls out a bowl full of what looks like herbs. The mother hands him a small pouch. He stuffs the bag half full and starts to hand it back.
“More.” I say, surprised at myself. Where did I get the guts for this? “Fill it all the way or I’ll go find someone else to buy the antibiotics from.”
“Well, good luck with that, sweetheart.” But he quickly fills the bag and hands it to the woman.
She stuffs it down the front of her shirt and hugs me, pressing the baby between us. “Thank you! Thank you! God bless you!” She pulls back, and I give her a smile.
“I hope your baby gets better.”
As she walks away, I turn my attention back to the vendor. “When can you have the antibiotics?”
His face scrunches. “Well…”
“It has to be tomorrow morning. Can you do it or not?”
&n
bsp; He holds his hands up. “No need to get worked up. It’ll take some doing, but I can do it. Tomorrow at nine. Meet me here.”
I nod.
I turn back to find Reece and Jo, pleased with myself. Jo is moving toward me at break-neck speed, and her eyes burn with fury.
I steel my shoulders, preparing for her wrath.
Jo grabs my arm before she even stops. “What were you thinking?”
“What are you talking about?” But I suspect I know. She’s watched me talk to people all evening. She must have seen me hand him the bag.
“You know full well what I’m talking about.” Her voice lowers. “What did you give him?”
“Lavender.”
She grabs her head with her hands and closes her eyes for several seconds.
“That was Howard. The guy I told you about. He has antibiotics.”
Her eyes pop open. “You found antibiotics? He gave it to you?”
“No, but—”
“Then what the hell did you pay him for?”
Reece hurries over to us, sidestepping an old man hobbling with a cane. “Back off, Jo.”
Jo ignores him. “So you gave him lavender just hoping he shows up to give you the medicine. When’s he supposed to give it to you?”
“Tomorrow morning at nine. But the lavender was a down payment.”
Her eyes fly open. “What did you promise for tomorrow?” Lifting a hand to her head, Jo groans as the realization hits her. “Oh, Chipper, you didn’t.”
Indignation fills my chest. “I wasn’t stupid enough to give him any tonight. I give him the rest tomorrow morning at nine when he gives me the medicine.”
“Why did you give him anything now?”
“There was a mother with a baby. She needed cough medicine and didn’t have enough money…”
Jo grunts then grabs my arm and drags me toward the table, but Howard’s already packed up and left. “Which way did he go?”
I jerk from her hold. “Stop. I don’t know.”
“Good job, Chipper. You just got ripped off. Do you have any idea what we could have gotten with that lavender you wasted? Not to mention everyone in Deacon City now knows we not only have lavender, but tobacco as well. We’re targets.”
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