Kyle knelt down eyeing the diameter with skepticism.
“You’ll fit,” she said with confidence and moved back.
About to stick his head into the hole, Kyle paused. What if she wasn’t alone and this was a trap? A real live psycho killer adult might be waiting inside. The word cannibal surfaced in his mind, and further fueled his doubts. He glanced up at the gray sky. The light was fading fast. He walked back out into the street. Was there enough time to make it to the diner, he wondered and doubted at the same time. The two crescent suns had faded away and the main sun was losing what little luster it had. Even running at full speed Kyle knew he wouldn’t beat the night. Dark, he found, arrived in a blink, falling like an iron curtain and, though not fully convinced of what he’d heard on the island was real, confirmation wasn’t desired either. With only seconds remaining Kyle went back to the hole and squeezed himself through.
Once inside, McKenna pulled the siding back in place. Using a rope, she lowered a large piece of plywood over the hole. Kyle looked around surprised to find himself in what had the appearance of a bedroom. The furniture had been shoved to one side of the room. A dresser held several planks of wood up against the wall. Kyle assumed a window was behind the crude barricade.
“Come on.” She tugged on his sleeve. “We have to get to into the back room.”
Kyle allowed her to lead him down a narrow hallway to another bedroom only slightly bigger than the first. Once inside McKenna shut the door, slid three bolts into place and pulled on a curtain rope which released an aluminum clad blanket that covered the door. From the corner a battery powered lantern cast a dim circle of light. The single window was covered over in layers of aluminum foil and the walls were also covered with aluminum. Kyle stared at the foil, suppressing the tremor traveling up his spine.
“Here, put this on.” McKenna handed him a hat made of foil. “So they can’t see inside your head,” she responded to his gaping stare.
Kyle removed his scarf and hat, replacing them with the aluminum hat. McKenna, serious as a heart attack, put her hat on as well. “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah. Sure.” After meeting the Mangled family, he hadn’t thought much about eating, but now realized he was quite hungry.
In the corner, on a small nightstand, was a loaf of white bread and a jar of peanut butter. Water bottles, paper plates and plastic utensils were stored on the shelf below. McKenna busied herself fixing dinner. From a small cooler she pulled out a jar of red jelly.
“I hope you like P.B. and J.” She glanced over her shoulder, eyebrows raised.
“My favorite,” Kyle proclaimed, although he hadn’t had one in years. Not since he was a kid and mom packed his lunch. Kyle’s hand absently went to his chest, where hidden underneath the layers of camo was the picture of his mom.
McKenna handed Kyle a plate with two sandwiches, and some potato chips. He accepted the plate from her. “Looks delicious. Thank you.” He fully expected the chips to be stale.
From a clothes closet she pulled out two regular sized folding chairs and a metal T.V. stand. She set the table up, placing a chair on each side. On the table she placed napkins and two bottles of water.
“You can sit.” She gestured to the chair.
Kyle sat holding his plate in his lap.
“I don’t usually have company.” McKenna sat in her chair also holding her plate in her lap. She bit into her sandwich and watched Kyle while she chewed.
Kyle took a bite and was surprised to find the food tasted fresh. He ate a potato chip which still held quite a bit of crunch. They ate in silence, the crunching of chips the only sound in the room. After they finished McKenna promptly cleaned up. The chairs and tray were returned to the closet. The plates were rolled up and placed in a garbage bag. The empty bottles were added to another bag that was already full of plastic bottles.
Kyle watched from the corner, staying out of her way. He got the impression she followed this routine every night and surmised it was similar to the routine her family had followed, minus certain aspects. He wanted to ask about her family, but didn’t know how to broach the subject. Although accustomed to dealing with crying ladies, a distressed little girl was not territory he felt prepared to tackle.
McKenna walked over to him. “If you need to use the bathroom, you have to go through the closet. I made a tunnel”
“I’m good.”
“Ok.”
“Now what?”
“I usually read until I get tired, but we can talk if you like,” she offered and then turned red as if embarrassed.
Sensing she wanted to talk, Kyle smiled and replied, “Talking. Yeah, I like that idea.” And he did. She might be able to shed some light on what happened when the cloud dropped.
“You go first,” she said. “Oh wait I almost forgot.” She vanished into the closet, returning shortly with a propane powered heater. “I couldn’t get the cap off.”
Kyle nodded and took the heater from her. With a little encouragement he was able to twist the cap off and attached the propane canister. He set the heater on the nightstand and turned it on low. Within minutes the room was toasty warm. McKenna shed her parka and boots revealing a scrawny frame.
“Oh that’s wonderful,” she beamed. “I haven’t had heat in months. My first heater ran out and this was the only one I could find over at V&G’s Feed store.” She pulled two sleeping bags from off the bed and handed one to Kyle. “We can sit on these.”
Guessing by her height Kyle thought her to be ten or eleven, which meant she’d been eight or nine when the white mass moved in. And she’d survived all this time. Kyle was floored and somewhat embarrassed at his previous behavior. Once situated, McKenna waited for Kyle to speak.
“Um. Well...so what was it you were playing on the piano?” he asked.
“Bagatelle in A Minor,” she replied with a wave of her hand. “Fur Elise. Beethoven.” She went on to Kyle’s blank expression.
“Ah Beethoven.” Kyle recognized this. “You’re pretty good.”
“I practice every day.”
“Did your mom teach you?”
“No. I taught me.”
“You did?”
“Yep. Mom didn’t like the piano. She wanted me to play the guitar and become a country music singer. I like the piano.”
Kyle was impressed. “Are you...is anyone else...”
“I’m the only child the aliens didn’t take,” she jumped in. “They took most of the adults. Except old crusty Trooper Riggs. They killed him in the street later. I was glad. I mean, not that he was killed, but you know, he was kinda crazy and he didn’t know I was still alive.”
“I understand. Have you seen them? The aliens?”
“Yep. They are big and ugly like a fierce gargoyle, but uglier than that and bigger. They are as tall as my house and have long pointy nails on their hands and feet. And their teeth are long and sharp. When they killed Trooper Riggs they opened him up like a book. From the middle” She demonstrated. “He was old and mean anyway.”
Kyle didn’t know if she was making this up as she went or she’d really seen such things. They’d speculated about aliens having arrived on the planet, but no one wanted to believe it.
“How come they didn’t take you?” she asked, stretching out on her sleeping bag.
“I was in Germany.”
“The aliens didn’t go to Germany?”
“No.”
McKenna yawned. “Do you think they will?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you come here?” Her eyes fell. “Why didn’t you stay in Germany?”
“I’m need to find my mom and sister.”
McKenna didn’t respond and Kyle was sure she’d fallen asleep. He turned the light down low. As easy as he was able, he picked her up and laid her on the bed, covering her with the quilt.
“Mr. Kyle,” McKenna mumbled, laying her hand on his arm.
“Yes.”
“Don’t leave me here.”
“I...” Kyle fumbled. “I won’t.” Of course he wouldn’t leave her behind. What kind of shit head would he be if he left her here all alone?
“Promise?”
“I promise.” He laid his hand over hers, only moving after certain she’d fallen asleep.
Outside an object, thrown by the wind, hit the side of the house. Kyle jumped a little, but being in the presence of this brave little girl made his former doubts subside. If he couldn’t be brave on his own, he could and certainly would be brave for her. Reaching to turn down the lamp, he noticed the calendar on the night table. Half of the days of October were crossed off. Kyle flipped to November, where Thanksgiving Day was circled. He flipped to December. Christmas was circled in red with a big black X marking out the day. It was the saddest thing he’d ever seen.
9 Christmas & Planes
Madison sat alone at the diner counter. The rest of the bunker residents were still sleeping. She sipped on her coffee, savoring the aroma and rich taste. It was a Hawaiian blend Zack had brought back from town. He didn’t say where he’d found it and she didn’t ask, preferring to believe it came from a store rather than someone’s pantry. Happy for the time alone, she used it to think, to meditate, and to mull over all those things she’d pushed to the back of her mind for one reason or another.
So much had happened in the past few days it was difficult to grasp onto anything that made sense. Since arriving, Roxanne had not left Austin’s bed side. The boy, Austin’s son, remained with his mother never venturing out on his own. As far as Madison could tell, he was not allowed to speak much either. Madison had tried to reach out to Roxanne, but had been greeted with a coolness that should have come with a frost warning. The subject of Austin’s wife and son seemed to be on everyone’s taboo list. A frustrating obstacle for Madison, who had questions, a multitude of questions.
Ed and Jenny had not come out of Ed’s living quarters and she wondered how Jenny might be taking the news about everything that had happened. How do you take something like that on top of everything else? As hard as the past year had been for Ed, Madison thought Jenny was going to have a more difficult time adapting.
Pouring another cup of coffee, Madison went and sat in one of the booths. She slid to the end of the bench, leaned against the wall and stretched her legs out so only her feet hung over the outside edge. As she sipped her mind wandered. She revisited Section Seven, the Dodge City Diner, down to Tampa and circled back to the bunker. Anne’s babies were due at the end of December. Grace was due only a week later. Christmas babies and a New Year’s baby, Madison thought. The word Christmas played around in Madison’s mind wanting to be noticed. Christmas.
“Christmas,” she said out loud.
“Did you say Christmas?” Zack grabbed her foot making her jump. “Sorry didn’t mean to startle you.”
“You didn’t. I mean you did, but...” Madison swung her legs around under the table. “My mind was elsewhere.”
“On Christmas?” Zack sat down across from her. Ever since she’d made it clear he wasn’t the guy for her, keeping his distance was constantly on his mind and harder to do each day.
“I was thinking about Anne having her twins in December and how they might be Christmas babies. I hadn’t realized it was coming up. You know Christmas”
“Should we have some kind of celebration?”
“I don’t know if celebration is the right word considering our circumstances.”
“What are our circumstances?”
“Whatta ya mean?”
“I was wondering what you thought of everything. Of life. The future. You know, our circumstances. “
Madison stared at him for a long moment. She’d given plenty of thought to many things, but not to those things. Not to their situation or their circumstances. She lived in the moment, never thinking too far ahead. “I don’t know. I haven’t given it much thought. Have you?”
“I have,” Zack replied, his tone uncharacteristically somber.
“And?”
“And I think celebrating Christmas might be a good thing. Especially for the younger crew. One last hurrah before the ship sinks.”
Madison thought this over. “You think they’re coming back? The Adita?”
“Yep.”
“What more do they want? They’ve already taken everyone.” Madison voice went up an octave. “Except us. Except a few survivors. We’re no threat to them. Why would they want...?” The answer smacked her in the head. “They want Austin don’t they?”
Zack nodded, glad she was quick to pick up on things. He needed to confide in someone, someone he could trust to be level headed. He had reservations about Madison remaining neutral in regards to Austin, but knew she could be trusted.
Madison’s cop side took over as she watched Zack’s facial expressions change. “Do you know something?”
“I do, but you can’t tell anyone. No one. Not Luke or Ed or anyone,” he emphasized.
“I won’t. I promise.”
Zack pondered for a moment, considering what he was about to say. “Did you see Austin before he went into the coma?
Madison nodded.
“So you saw his eyes?”
“No. He had sunglasses on. Inside his apartment. When I asked about it, he, he flipped out. Why? What’s wrong with his eyes?”
“Well,” Zack cleared his throat, “it seems Eve injected him with some sort of something into his veins and his blood...”
“What do you mean injected?”
“Ah, not injected. Bit. She bit him.”
“What! Are you kidding me? Bit him? Come on Zack,” Madison argued, but with little force because what he said didn’t seem all that preposterous.
“Not kidding. Came straight from the horse’s mouth.”
“Austin told you that.” She rubbed her forehead. “Ok, so she bit him.”
“So, I’ve been taking blood samples since he passed out. At first the foreign cells, or Eve’s cells, were consuming his, but then yesterday I noticed his cells were fighting back. They were eating or consuming, the new cells.”
“Sounds very sci-fyish. What does it mean?”
“Not sure yet, but it’s similar to when your body fights a virus or bacteria. Except Eve’s cells are the Hulk of viruses.”
“Sounds more like cancer,” she said with not a little note of sarcasm.
“Cancer? Ah. Hmm.” Zack pondered for a few minutes. He hadn’t thought of this as a disease to be treated.
“What’s the aha look for?”
“You, my dear, may have come up with a possible solution.” Zack flashed her one of his melt your heart smiles.
Madison’s heart did more than melt, it jumped in her chest and her cheeks felt flushed. Don’t make a fool of yourself Mad, her mom chided, choosing that precise moment to chime in after being silent for weeks.
“Is this a private party?” Luke plopped down next to Madison, saving her further embarrassment.
“Not at all,” Zack answered. “We were discussing celebrating Christmas.”
“Christmas? Really?” Luke scowled. “What’s to celebrate?”
Madison and Zack exchanged a worried glance. Both of them had noticed Luke’s demeanor changing, his attitude growing worse by the day.
“Hey man, lighten up. It’s not the end of the world,” Zack said and then chuckled at his choice of words.
“Glad you think this is such a joke. Do you have to be such a smartass about everything?”
“Hey, what’s your problem?” Madison turned to look at him.
“I don’t have a problem. We have a problem.” He slid out of the booth. “You all act like living down here is gonna go on forever. We eat and drink like we have a never-ending supply. No one talks about the future and what happens when all the shit runs out. We keep taking people in. Two of the girls are going to have babies. How are we supposed to support everyone?”
“What would you have us do? Turn them away?” Madison asked.
“N
o. That’s not what I’m saying at all.” Luke ran his hand through his hair, searching for the right words. “What I’m saying is we can’t live like being down here is only temporary and one day things are gonna return to normal. That’s never gonna happen. The vampires...the Adita, the whatever, made damn sure of that.”
Madison refrained from telling Luke everything was going to be ok. A stupid thing people said when they didn’t know what else to say. Besides, Luke wasn’t a kid anymore. He was twenty-one, old enough to be treated like an adult.
“Come on Luke. Sit down. Talk to us.”
Luke looked at Madison for a long moment, his expression hard, and his body tense like he was ready to fight.
“Please,” she implored.
Luke’s shoulders relaxed and he sat next to her. “Sorry for the outburst.”
“Don’t apologize dude. You’re right. We haven’t given the future much thought,” Zack admitted. “But it’s hard to think about something you don’t expect to happen. You know?”
The diner’s door opened and closed. Zack waved Ed over.
“Morning all.” He slid into the empty space next to Zack. His face was pale and dark rings circled his eyes.
“Hey Ed,” Madison replied. “You doin’ ok?”
“Ah, not really.”
Madison reached out and held Ed’s hand. Again she stopped herself from saying everything would be ok. Damn it if there wasn’t a less meaningless phrase. “How’s Jenny?” she asked instead.
“She’s strong.” He swallowed hard. “Stronger than me.”
“Has she told you anything about the Adita?” Luke asked.
“Not really. She doesn’t remember being taken or anything that happened that day. She only remembers waking up and Eve being with her. She said the warehouses were full of people. Perhaps hundreds of them, but she couldn’t remember seeing any children.”
“Does she remember what happened to Ryan?” Madison asked.
Ed shook his head. “I don’t think so. All she could tell me about that day was walking into the kitchen holding the tray of hot cocoa. She doesn’t even remember seeing the Sundogs. I mean the Svan. She said she had a faint recollection of traveling at a tremendous speed and feeling like her body was being ripped apart. I guess they took her through the portal. Anyway, we’ll be ok. If Ryan’s still alive, and I believe he is, I’m going to find him.”
Eve of Man (The Harvest Book 2) Page 8