What would Patrice do? he thought as the song switched to Diamond D’s “Sally Got a One Track Mind”. Then, his eyes shut, and he nodded off with the tape still playing.
Chapter Nine
“Where is he?” Marcus busted into Vic’s room as he slept.
Vic shot up in his bed. “Huh?”
“Ali? Where did he go?” Marcus said.
“He’s gone?” Vic said. Marcus’s face was enraged. “I don’t know. Honestly. I don’t know.”
Marcus stormed out of the bedroom and met Nadine in the kitchen where she paced around.
“You know he went to see that girl,” Nadine said.
“Where does she live?” Marcus said.
“Somewhere in Alphabet City,” Nadine responded.
Marcus grabbed his jacket and a knife.
“Where are you going?”
“To find him,” Marcus said.
“No,” Nadine shouted. “I’ve been killing myself for the last few days not knowing if you were alive or dead. Now you’re back. I won’t do it again.”
“So, what do you want me to do?” Marcus asked. “I thought he was changing.”
“He chose to go. That was his decision. He’ll come back,” Nadine said.
The last part sounded more like she was trying to convince herself that he’d return unharmed than a declarative statement.
Marcus placed his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Okay. He has until one. If he’s not back by then, I have to look for him.”
Nadine nodded in resignation.
Eddie came into the kitchen and looked at Marcus. “Let us know if you need us to help you look for Ali."
“Thank you,” Marcus said.
Eddie backed out of the kitchen.
"Hey, Eddie," Nadine said.
Eddie popped his head back into the kitchen.
"Breakfast will be ready in about fifteen minutes," Nadine said. "Can you let the others know?"
"Sure," Eddie said.
"I like your friends," Nadine said.
"Well, you always told me to go make more friends and be more social," Marcus said. "Who knew it'd take the apocalypse to make me listen?"
Nadine playfully tapped him on the shoulder.
Ali alertly walked through the streets. It was broad daylight, but he knew better than to relax. Part of him felt that he might have used up all of his luck already. First, they made it off of the Stanford campus. Then, they survived the train crash. They also escaped the desert, came across Eddie and Jesse, survived the Gibson’s house, made it out of the tunnel, made it home, and his mother was still alive.
After all of that, how can Esperanza still be alive right? he thought.
The short walk to her building never seemed so long. His East Village neighborhood had been trashed, but it was nothing like Alphabet City. It seemed like those creatures hit here the worst. It almost looked as bad as Penn Station.
As he walked down the sidewalk, he saw heads duck in and out of the windows in the buildings. There were a few people patrolling on the street with bats and various weapons. Many of the faces he'd seen before.
Ali didn't hold his knife out as he didn't want to appear to be threatening, but it was tucked in the waistband of his jeans.
"Yo, Ali," a man's voice said.
It startled Ali. He turned around and saw Javier Cruz. His barber.
“Oh shit, fam!" Ali said as he walked over to him. He dapped him up.
"What the fuck are you doing out here?" Javier said. "Looking for me to cut that mop off your head?" He flicked through Ali's hair.
Ali thought whether he should tell him.
"I'm checking on Espi," Ali said.
"Ahhhhh...." Javier said. "You pussy whipped niggaz. Checking on chicks during the worst shit possible." He laughed.
Ali fake smiled. "Have you seen her?"
Javier thought about it. "Nah B, I haven't seen her. I haven't seen her people either. Haven't seen too many people, man."
"How's your people doing?" Ali asked.
Javier shook his head. Ali knew what that meant.
"Yo, me and my Dad got a crew over at my place. Hit us up if you need anything," Ali said.
"True," Javier said. "I might have to do that."
"We might be leaving tonight," Ali said.
"The city?"
Ali shrugged.
"Cool," Javier said. "Be safe out in these streets."
"You too," Ali said as he walked away.
Now that he was on Esperanza's block, it was as barren as the others. As he walked up her steps he thought about calling out to her window, but decided against it. Who knows what kind of attention that would draw? he thought.
He walked up the steps. The door was ajar. Not a good sign, but at least he didn't have to wait for someone to buzz him up. Ali ran up the stairs to get to her fifth floor apartment.
"Yo, Ali," a deep man's voice said.
It was Nasim Diggs. He was sort of a friend of Patrice's who lived on the third floor.
"Naz!” Ali said. He stopped even though he was anxious to check on Esperanza.
Nasim stood 6’3” tall and was as wide a defensive lineman. He had a bald head and a long beard that now had tinges of grey in it. He was someone Ali would refer to as an old head. He was a little bit older than Patrice, but unlike his brother he was heavy in the streets. Naz wasn’t someone you’d want beef with. And Ali liked having a guy like that on his side.
"Espi is in here,” Nasim said.
Ali's face lit up.
Nasim leaned in. "Those things got her mother and father."
"What?" Ali said.
Nasim nodded. "Her pops ran out there to protect the stoop as they tried to get in. They snatched him up. Then, her mom tried to help him. They got her too."
Ali's face sunk. "Fuck. How's she doing?"
"Not too good," Nasim said. "But it's better now."
Ali had second thoughts whether he should go see her.
"She'll be happy to see you though," Nasim said. "She thought you were gone too. Come on." He led Ali to his door. "Guess who I found?"
Ali stepped from behind the massive Nasim, and Esperanza grinned from ear to ear. She stood there as beautiful as ever. He dark brown skin glowed in the sunlight peeking through the shades in Nasim’s apartment. She was wearing an old red Polo hoodie that Ali let her take, because it reminded her of him. She ran over to him, and he embraced her.
"Baby," Esperanza shouted. She backed up and looked at him just to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
Nasim even almost cracked a smile.
Ali didn't know what to say.
"When did you get back?" Esperanza said.
"Last night," Ali said.
"And your parents let you come out?" Esperanza said.
"Not really."
She shook her head.
"You want something to drink?" Nasim asked Ali.
"Yeah," Ali said. "Water?"
"We ran out of bottled water. Only Coronas," Nasim said.
"Sure, whatever," Ali said.
Ali and Esperanza sat down on the couch.
"I'm sorry about your family," Ali said.
Her smile went away.
"You can come with me," Ali said. "We have a group of people over at my place. If New York isn't safe anymore, we're gonna make it out of here and find someplace that is safe."
Nasim exhaled. "That might be the move. This shit is getting worse each day."
Ali stared at Esperanza waiting for her approval. She nodded.
“Let’s go now,” Ali said.
Esperanza hesitated. “Now?”
“Yes,” Ali nodded. “The situation on the outside changes from moment to moment. And we should travel together.”
Esperanza looked at Nasim.
“He has a point,” Esperanza said.
Nasim peeked outside the window and watched as an old lady pushed a shopping cart down the sidewalk.
“Aight,” Nasim said.
Ali smiled.
Esperanza shrugged. “Okay, I’ll start packing.” She got up off the couch.
“Pack light,” Ali said. “Do you have any non-perishable food? We might need that.”
“Check the cabinets,” Nasim said as he walked into his bedroom.
This couldn’t have worked out any better, Ali thought. Not only did he find Esperanza, but now he could bring Nasim along with him. And he would be very helpful while they were on the road.
Chapter Ten
To get his mind off of Ali’s disappearance, Marcus spent most of the morning and early afternoon with the rest of his group recruiting other survivors in the building and on the block for their exodus.
A long subscriber to the phrase, “You don’t know what you don’t know”, Marcus also directed everyone to gather information about what they’ve seen since the earthquake.
Most of the accounts were generally the same. The stories all had similar themes of mysterious disappearances and death. The majority of the people questioned were gun shy about joining Marcus’s group. They were either too scared or still searching for lost loved ones. All they had was hope that things would get better. And when they couldn’t be convinced that things were not trending toward “better”, they would tell whomever to please leave, sometimes pleasantly and other times unpleasantly.
In total, after speaking with approximately forty survivors, they received eleven commitments, seven adults and four children. That was enough for Marcus, but Eddie was upset they couldn’t get more people. Eddie viewed everyone that turned them down as people who were sentencing themselves to their own death.
“That’s their choice,” Marcus told Eddie as they stood out in front of Marcus’s building.
“Maybe they don’t know what’s out there,” Eddie said.
“They’re not stupid. But this is their home. And they’re not ready to go,” Marcus said.
“We need to do more,” Eddie said.
“How? And how do we protect them? More people might endanger our people.”
“They’re all our people,” Eddie said.
Marcus pointed to his window. “No, that’s my people. Right there.”
Eddie shook his head. Maybe we shouldn’t be arguing like this in the middle of the street. It’s not a good sign as people might be watching, he thought.
“Listen, I know what you mean. I don’t want to sound heartless,” Marcus said. “But we don’t even have enough weapons. We don’t even have transportation.”
“We’ve rounded up three cars,” Eddie said.
“In what condition are these cars?” Marcus said. “Are they reliable? We don’t know.”
Eddie nodded as he realized the validity of Marcus’s argument.
“We’ll get everyone there. And we can keep them safe,” Eddie said. “I just know it.”
Marcus shook his head.
“One another thing,” Eddie said.
Marcus didn’t want to be challenged on another issue. He was dealing with too much as it was.
“I know you had to do what you did,” Eddie said.
Marcus tilted his head. He had no idea what Eddie was referring to.
“Back at Lolo’s,” Eddie said.
Marcus nodded. “I don’t know what to say.
“You don’t have to say anything,” Eddie said. Tears started to form in his eyes.
“I didn’t just do it for us,” Marcus said.
“I know. I know…you did it for me too,” Eddie said. “I don’t know how I could’ve lived with myself if I ended her with that knife.”
Marcus looked at him, “Well—.”
“Chances are,” Eddie continued, “I probably would’ve let her and the kids kill me.”
“I know,” Marcus said.
“Well, thank you,” Eddie said. “You’re a good man.”
Marcus put his hand on Eddie’s shoulder, “Thanks—.”
“Hey,” Ali said.
Marcus swung around and stared at his son who crept up behind him during his discussion with Eddie. Ali stood next to Esperanza knowing his father was irate with him.
Marcus glared and said nothing.
“Hear me out,” Ali said.
“I don’t need to hear anything from you,” Marcus turned back toward Eddie.
Ali jumped in front of Marcus. “I had to get her. I had to know she was all right. I couldn’t wait for you to tell me when I could go.”
“You know how much your mother was worrying about you?” Marcus said.
Ali’s head dropped.
Shit, I was worrying about you, Marcus thought.
“I know,” Ali said. “And I’m sorry.”
“Are you?” Marcus said.
“I thought I could make it back before anybody noticed.”
“You thought. You thought? You weren’t thinking,” Marcus said. “And that’s the problem.”
Nadine walked down the steps. She had heard Ali’s voice from the window in the kitchen. She stepped in front of her boy.
“Sorry, Mom,” Ali said.
Nadine hugged him. “Don’t you ever do that again,” she said.
“Okay,” Ali said. “I won’t.”
She looked at him.
“I promise,” Ali said.
Nadine turned to Esperanza and touched her cheek. “And how are you doing, sweetheart?”
“Good,” Esperanza said. She gave her a half-smile, but her eyes began to tear up as if she knew what she was going to ask next.
“How are your—”
Esperanza bawled. Nadine pulled her closer into an embrace.
“That’s all right,” Nadine said. “Let’s go upstairs.”
Marcus looked at Ali. He felt bad. What Ali did was reckless, but it was also noble and brave. But more importantly, he did need to do it. He decided to stop being angry at him.
“We’re leaving tomorrow…in the morning,” Marcus told Ali.
“Sure,” Ali said. “Espi’s coming with us.”
Marcus said nothing as he already knew as much. “Why don’t you head upstairs and make sure she’s doing okay.”
Ali nodded and followed his father’s advice.
Marcus looked at Eddie who shrugged.
“We good here?” Marcus asked.
Eddie forgot what they were arguing about. “Yeah…yeah.”
And they both went back inside.
The mood during dinner at the Nelsons was light. Which was odd considering the journey everyone was about to embark on. Nadine cleaned out her fridge and pantry and with the help of Eddie whipped up a nice spread: salmon, rice and beans, mashed potatoes, kale, grilled chicken breasts, and quinoa.
“Can I have seconds?” Vic asked Nadine.
“C’mon fam,” Ali said.
“What?” Vic said.
Esperanza chimed in, “We already saw you get seconds. This is thirds!”
Vic grinned. He knew he was got. He thought his second plate went undetected since there were so many people in the apartment. He shrugged and ran into the kitchen holding his plate like he was a ring bearer walking down the aisle.
“He’s loading up like he’s not gonna ever eat again,” Jesse said.
“He always eats like that,” Nadine said.
Vic emerged from the kitchen with a pile of food on his third plate.
“But he didn’t devour my cheesesteaks like that,” Eddie said.
Vic looked at Eddie. “No comment.”
Everybody broke out in laughter.
“What, my steaks are good,” Eddie laughed.
“They are,” Vic said. “But the cheese though. It doesn’t agree with me.”
“It doesn’t,” Christina said as she held her nose.
Vic looked up from his plate with a look as if Christina betrayed him. “Et tu, Christina?”
She shrugged. “Sorry…not sorry.”
The laughs got louder only to be interrupted by a loud boom that made the building shake.
Everyone braced them
selves thinking it was another earthquake. But the tremor was too mild to be an earthquake.
“What the fuck was that?”
Marcus looked out of the window and up to the sky. It looked like a normal evening.
“What do you see?” Nadine asked.
“Nothing.” Marcus looked at the street level. “Shit.”
A collective what came from the crowd.
“Fires,” Marcus said. “A lot of them.”
“How close?” Eddie said.
“It looks about fifteen blocks away,” Marcus said.
Nadine turned to everybody around the dinner table. “If you’re not already packed, go and pack now.”
The survivors scrambled to their respective locations to throw stuff into their bags and say goodbye to any possessions they would have to part with.
“We can’t go now?” Raymond said.
“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” Eddie said.
“Eddie’s right,” Marcus said.
“But those things,” Raymond said.
Marcus watched as people and cars began coming down the streets in their direction. He turned to Nadine. “Do people ever come out at night?”
“Other than you guys showing up yesterday, I haven’t seen anybody going for a nightly stroll in over a week,” Nadine said.
“Something ain’t right,” Marcus said.
Eddie walked over to him and wedged his way over to look out the window.
“Make sure everybody is ready in ten minutes,” Marcus asked Nadine.
Frightened, but still up to the task, she went and made sure Ali, Vic, Espi, Christina, and Jesse were packed economically and had the essentials.
Now with the room clear and only Marcus, Eddie, and Raymond in the living room, Eddie whispered to Marcus, “So what are you thinking?”
Marcus looked over at Raymond, not knowing if he felt safe enough to discuss the plans with him around if only for the simple fact that he was not as familiar with him. Well, he’s here with us now. So there’s no point in keeping a secret, he thought.
“Those things are out at night,” Marcus said. “But they’re gonna be on our doorstep within a few hours. We need to do this.”
“Everybody won’t make it,” Eddie said.
Scattered Screams: (The Disruption, Book One) Page 11