Strays

by Justin Kassab

  “Sound and motion,” Yuzuki said, pointing to the fire engine.

  The gleaming red truck looked so pristine it didn’t appear to know the end of the world had come. Jem walked over to the vehicle and ran his hand over it like they were old friends.

  “When you were in one of your dazes, you told me you used to be a firefighter—as well as a helicopter pilot—and had a dog, then asked if I wanted to sleep with you. So, Casanova, can you drive her out to the street, aim her away from us, and drop a block on the gas?” Yuzuki asked.

  Jem smiled ear to ear as he retrieved a piece of rubble and climbed into the cab. He looked like a kid with a brand-new toy.

  “Up for some arson?” Yuzuki asked. She went over to the vehicle bay that was closer to the destroyed half of the building. There was an emergency pickup, but the truck had been crushed by debris. She opened the vodka and poured some on each of the four tires.

  Kade reached into his Dora pack and pulled out his lighter. He followed her path, setting flame to the rubber.

  Jem drove the engine forward, nudging the garage door. The engine pushed the door off its tracks, and the door fell flat, kicking up a cloud of dirt. As Jem drove over the door, Kade and Yuzuki took off running.

  Thick black smoke was rising in a constant plume from the fire station. Kade kept running and hurried toward the waiting Jeep. He opened the door and threw himself inside, feeling like a kid out for some summer mischief. A sheen of nervous sweat coated his body.

  “Is that sirens?” Mick asked as Yuzuki climbed into the passenger seat.

  “Yes, sir,” Kade said.

  “Did you guys steal a fire engine?” Mick asked.

  “No, we’re just parking it somewhere else,” Kade replied.

  “But we did start a fire,” Yuzuki said, pointing toward the rising smoke in the direction from which they had come.

  “That’s arson,” Mick said.

  “I don’t think anyone will press charges,” Yuzuki replied.

  Jem opened the back door and climbed in. “Why are we sitting still?”

  “Mick wants to arrest us,” Kade said.

  “This is why you never get to do the fun jobs. Now drive,” Jem said.

  Mick drove them away from the scene of the crime. The sirens blared in the distance, and the smoke grew smaller as they continued on.

  * * *

  X drove the black pickup north, with John in the passenger seat directing him. The truck had taken a beating in the pursuit, but it was still running. The one thing X had always made sure to do on grocery runs was to cover his tracks. He couldn’t leave a bunch of bodies lying around for someone else to stumble across.

  John sat beside him with a full quiver of arrows, a machete on his hip, and enough loaded cargo pockets to hold all the tea in China. He was surprised by how eager John had been to come with him on the return trip, but he wasn’t going to turn down the help. The two exchanged stories of what happened on the mission and at Houghton.

  X hated to admit he wasn’t sure which kid was Scott, but it didn’t make it any less of a tragedy. In the long run, they were necessary to the survival of the cohort. Eventually, X probed to see if he could learn anything about how angry Ashton truly was.

  “She scares me way too much to ask about anything that personal,” John replied.

  X laughed. “She scares me too.”

  “Slow down,” John said as they neared the pet store. “I forgot. I stabbed a man, but I didn’t kill him.”

  X pulled the truck over and parked it along the street. “We’ll sneak up on foot.”

  They climbed out in front of a jewelry store and stalked toward the pet store. X pushed Ashton out of his mind, focusing his attention on the task at hand. The man may have been wounded, but he could still be waiting to blow their brains out.

  The shadows of dusk were playing tricks on X’s eyes, so he let John take the lead. They took cover a few doors down from the pet store. John nocked an arrow and informed X that the one body in the parking lot was the person who had attacked Ashton. It crossed X’s mind to desecrate the man’s body, but he decided that death might be enough of a punishment for him.

  They closed the distance, and John peered inside the pet shop.

  “The one I killed is where I left her, and so is her gun. I don’t see the guy I stabbed, but he should have left a pretty clear trail,” John said.

  X clapped him on the shoulder. “You’ve come a long way from the kid I met last fall.”

  “Just stay alert. He could be anywhere in there.”

  John led the way into the dark pet store. X was used to operating in darkness, but he still didn’t like waiting for his vision to adjust. Or that someone was in here and could see him. Letting his sight drop to second fiddle, he focused on listening for anyone who might be lurking.

  John stopped in the middle of the walkway to inspect a wet puddle on the floor. He stayed low and followed the drips. X did his best to emulate John’s posture. The blood led them to the back of the store, where the restrooms were located. The trail led into the men’s room. John slung his bow over his shoulder and pulled a crank-charge LED flashlight out of his pocket.

  “I’ll light it up. You make sure he’s dead,” John whispered.

  With a gentle finger, X pushed down on the door handle. When the latch retracted from the slot, he kicked the door open and turned the light on. There was a flurry of movement, and X fired once. The shot rang out, deafening him from any other sounds in the small space. John brought his hands to his ears, drawing the light away from the bathroom.

  A pack of rodents charged through the open door, stampeding away from the sound. The one thing X was sure of was that there was no one in the bathroom. He felt like a fool for firing without confirming his target.

  The women’s door, which was directly behind John, flung open, and a baseball bat descended toward John. X tried to take aim but couldn’t get a clear shot. The bat collided with the bow on John’s back, dropping him to one knee. Pieces of plastic from the bow clattered against the floor. Before X could find a target, John spun around, drew his machete, and swung hard. There was a wet thud, followed by the crack of a skull on the tile.

  John was rigid in the final position of his follow-through, as if he were posing for his first home run. “I’m worried that this keeps getting easier,” he finally said, his voice wooden.

  “It is part of the world we live in now. You physically okay?” X asked.

  “Going to have to fix my bow, but I’m fine,” John said.

  If the Old World John met the Primal Age John, X doubted they would recognize one another. He only hoped that the changes would be more positive than negative. But X didn’t consider counseling one of his strengths, so he would wait for Kade to return and relay his concerns about John then.

  They still had tracks to cover.

  * * *

  Kade took his turn at the wheel. They were almost in Pennsylvania, and it seemed like their diversion had worked. Yuzuki was using Jem as a pillow in the backseat. Despite Kade’s suggestions, Mick refused to sleep and kept checking to make sure the other two were sleeping.

  “I have a hazy memory of telling you something important,” Mick said.

  “You did,” Kade replied.

  “Well, I wanted to consciously tell you. I’m gay,” Mick said. Kade could see Mick’s muscles tense up as the words escaped his mouth.

  Kade shrugged. “Okay.”

  Mick’s head snapped around, and his face flushed as bright as his hair. “That pisses me off so much. None of you care.”

  “I’m sorry?” Kade said.

  “Years I’ve held this in. I thought you guys would judge me,” Mick said.

  “I’ll judge you the same as I used to. I’ll still make fun of you when you sleep with people like Vanessa P., whether they are men or women,” Kade said.

  “I never slept with Vanessa P.”

  “That was a stupid thing to lie about. Think about how much ridi
cule you could have saved yourself,” Kade said.

  “She slept with Jem that night.”

  “Jem doesn’t get fazed if we make fun of his partners. So, back when we were in the same locker room, did you ever . . . ?”

  Mick laughed. “You’re not my type.”

  Kade put a hand on Mick’s shoulder. “Lucas was, though, right?”

  Mick nodded and stared out the passenger window.

  “I’m sorry. I wish I could have been there for you properly after that,” Kade said.

  “Probably best you weren’t. You might have cast Grace out then, and think about how cold this winter would have been without her.”

  “She has been a lifesaver, but I still wish I’d have known,” Kade said, returning his hand to the wheel.

  “Who would have thought the Primal Age would be the land of opportunity? You’re getting below half a tank. Exit in two miles,” Mick said.

  Kade took Mick’s sudden change as his way of saying he was done talking about this, so he let the conversation close. Mick had it right—the Primal Age was a land of opportunity. Mick had been able to let go of his secret, and Kade had been able to find a reason to live. Kade doubted Mick would have been able to come out had the end of the world not befallen them. During their years of friendship, Kade had only suspected Mick was gay on a few occasions, but he had not given it serious thought. Now, looking back, all of the bread crumbs were there. Mick had never had time for a girlfriend. In high school, he had said they would ruin his concentration on soccer, and after that, he had dedicated himself to the police force. There had been a number of women who had practically undressed and thrown themselves at Mick over the years, but Mick had found something wrong with each of them. The few members of Mick’s family Kade had met weren’t the most liberal of thinkers. Mick had never spent much time at home and was one of the many who spent weekends at Kade’s house. With those pressures, Mick could have gone on carrying his burden until the end of time.

  “I can’t wait to get back. I feel like I’ve been gone a year,” Mick said.

  Kade was terrified to go back. He would have to face Tiny and his fate as a father. He had great role models in his own parents, but he didn’t know if he could live with himself, knowing he had passed on Huntington’s. There was a slim sliver of hope in his mind that Zack had lied to him, but he couldn’t imagine that Zack’s last decree would be a joking matter, just to get a rise out of Tiny.

  “The relativity of time has always amazed me,” Kade said.

  Mick rubbed his arms as if the cabin had suddenly gone cold. “It’s been a really long week.”

  Kade had no idea what Mick and Jem had been through, but based on their condition when he arrived, it hadn’t been a five-star hotel stay. Part of him was worried that they had given away the location of Houghton, but he would give them more time to recover before he put them through another round of questioning.

  Kade put his turn signal on to appease Mick and turned up the exit ramp. He checked the signs to see what options he had, and made a right where there was supposed to be a restaurant as well as a Sheetz gas station. The hope was they could find a few parked cars. The odds of them actually running were slim since they had been weathering the elements, but if they could trade out the Jeep for something with a little better gas mileage, they would be in good shape. The main goal was to syphon some gas to finish out the trip.

  The gas station came first and there wasn’t a single car there, but Kade made a mental note to go back and steal as many Snickers bar as he could carry. It might help speed Tiny’s forgiveness.

  “Looks good,” Mick said as the headlights illuminated the darkened parking lot of the restaurant. There were three cars in the lot.

  Jem and Yuzuki were still entwined in the backseat. Kade hated to wake them, but he needed all four guns. He patted Jem’s leg, and they started the awakening process.

  A few minutes later Kade stood in front of the Jeep’s high beams, while Jem stood behind the Jeep keeping it guarded. Yuzuki slowly drove the Jeep toward the parked cars with Mick in the passenger seat.

  Kade kept his eyes focused forward to keep his night vision as they scanned the parked cars to make sure there was no one occupying them. Each car was missing the two things they were looking for: life and keys. They wouldn’t be able to trade out vehicles, but they could at least fill up.

  When they started syphoning, Jem suggested they check the restaurant to be sure none of the owners were inside. Since they only had one hose anyhow, Kade agreed, and the two kicked in the back door.

  They entered through the kitchen and scanned the darkness using the lights on their rifles. The shadows cast by the pots, pans, and utensils looked like crooked arms snaking along the walls. The building seemed empty, but still had a language of its own. It groaned at the intruders and hissed in time with the wind.

  Kade did a pass through the eating area and returned to Jem in the kitchen. Jem stood before a large metal door like it was an Earth-bound god. Kade stared at the door to the freezer, feeling the same reverence.

  “If it hasn’t been opened, there could be food in there,” Jem said. Not just any food, but super-fattening, greasy, lard-filled, chain restaurant food that could sustain them for a while.

  Jem kept his rifle trained on the door as Kade swung it open. Kade jumped back as the walk-in freezer lit up. There were two bodies on the floor, and it didn’t appear as if the cold had killed them. There was a gaping hole in the neck of one body that was the perfect imprint of a mouth. Kade shut the door.

  “I got excited for nothing,” Jem said.

  Three sharp blasts of the horn sounded from outside. Jem and Kade sprinted through the exit, where the Jeep was waiting with open doors. Without any questions, they threw themselves into the backseat, and Yuzuki accelerated before they had time to close the door.

  Kade didn’t have to ask what the emergency was—there were three pairs of headlights coming for them. He didn’t know if they had stumbled into someone else’s territory, or if they were being pursued by the president’s men.

  “Cunningham?” Jem asked, looking out the back of Jeep.

  “Judging by the height and separation of the lights, they have to be military vehicles,” Yuzuki said.

  “I thought we lost them,” Kade muttered.

  Jem was perched like a little kid with his knees on the seat, looking out the back. “Cunningham has a hard-on for us—for me, to be exact.”

  “Former CIA. Has a real knack for torture,” Yuzuki added.

  “Apparently, when I stole that helicopter, I pissed off the wrong people. Cunningham will track us to the end of the world,” Jem said.

  Yuzuki cut the lights and swung the Jeep onto a turnoff in the woods. She repositioned them so they faced the main road.

  “Let’s hope they blow by,” she said.

  A minute later the first set of lights flew past, then the second, and finally the third. Kade let out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding.

  “Did you offer to give the helicopter back?” Kade asked.

  “Of course I—go, go, go,” Jem shouted.

  The last vehicle had reversed back to the place where they had turned off. Yuzuki slammed on the pedal, and they lurched forward like a plane at takeoff. The trees whizzed by as the vehicle tried to block off their escape. Yuzuki cut the wheel hard, trying to avoid the enemy, but ended up catching their back corner with the front of the Jeep.

  The passengers of the Jeep were tossed around as Yuzuki fought to remain in control. They had spun the back end of their blocker out of the way. They resumed motion and sped down the road toward the highway.

  Jem grabbed Kade and forced him into the footwell, then threw himself on top of him. The back window exploded as a bullet passed through the cabin and out the windshield. Yuzuki swerved the wheel side to side as the gunfire continued.

  “Something isn’t right,” Jem said, getting back into the seat.

  Kade felt the s
ame way. If the first vehicle had stopped, it would have made sense that they’d seen them turn off, but the third one reversing to them was something else.

  “What if they’re tracking us?” Kade asked.

  He had been devoid of technology for so long that he had begun to forget what technology was capable of doing. Every single phone in the Old World was capable of GPS tracking. The president was sure to still have some equipment in working order.

  “Or someone is communicating with them,” Jem said.

  Yuzuki took the on-ramp so fast that the tires squealed, and Jem slammed into Kade. Barreling onto the highway, Kade realized that the impact had knocked out the right side headlight.

  “If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, that torture must have really screwed your brain,” Yuzuki said.

  “I’m just saying one of these things is not like the others,” Jem said, lifting his rifle.

  Kade grabbed the barrel and aimed it down.

  “Yeah, one of these was tortured for months, and if you haven’t noticed I am driving us away from the bad guys,” Yuzuki said.

  Mick kept his attention out the window, like a child ignoring a parent fight.

  “Our asses might be your ticket to freedom,” Jem said.

  “And the sex?”

  “You could just be trying to gain my trust. We both know that bitch Cunningham wants me back alive,” Jem said.

  “Hold the wheel,” Yuzuki said to Mick, then contorted herself around and drew her pistol on Jem. “Take it back.”

  Jem tried to lift his rifle, but Kade kept it pointed at the floor.

  “Yuzuki, relax. You wouldn’t have asked me to kill you before I let them take you if you were one of them. That would be terrible planning on your part. I know you’re with us,” Kade said.

  “Make him take it back,” Yuzuki growled.

  Kade shot Jem a look, but he shook his head in response.

  “Take it back,” Yuzuki said.

  “Go ahead and shoot me. Prove me right.” Jem dropped his rifle and held up his arms to give her a clear shot. Kade thought about reaching for Yuzuki’s pistol, but he was worried she would take any action as a threat and didn’t want to spur her on.