Autumn in the Dark Meadows (The Autumn Series)

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Autumn in the Dark Meadows (The Autumn Series) Page 11

by Kirby Howell


  He didn’t say anything, only stared out across the rows of sleeping patients. I could tell he was recalling times no living person left on Earth had memory of.

  “There’s another good thing about you,” I said in a low voice.

  He shook his head, his eyes dark with question. “What?”

  “My dad told me about when the last Civil War veteran died when he was a kid. He said it was the end of an era because there was no one left who had experienced it firsthand. But you’re still here, and you remember.”

  “That was the whole point,” he said. “For me to witness your history and record it. For quite some time, I only operated as a reporter. You’ll remember, I wasn’t supposed to get involved with your natural progression. It wasn’t until about World War II that I started signing up as a medic. They always suspected I was lying about my age, but they thought I was too young to enlist.”

  “They would never have believed you if you told them your real age.”

  “No, they wouldn’t have. It wasn’t until the late eighties that the Doogie Howser jokes started.” He smiled again.

  “Yeah, I heard Franklin say that earlier. Who is that?”

  He laughed out loud, his face joyful. “Never mind,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s almost mid-afternoon, and you didn’t sleep last night. Why don’t you go get some rest?”

  “Are you going to get a break soon?” I asked, noticing how quickly his smile fell away and the tired way he leaned against the sink.

  “I will,” he promised. “Kathy and JR should be back from their breaks soon, and then I can go.”

  As I walked toward the double doors, I realized that was the first conversation I’d had with Grey without memories of my dream of drowning welling up inside me.

  I found Vonna and Shad with Franklin, just outside the large ballroom. Shad sat with his back against the wall, half asleep, while Franklin spoke with Vonna. Franklin scooped her into a tight hug before leaving, presumably to climb out of the massive hole and rejoin the dig. I slid down the wall and landed with a bump on the floor next to Shad. Vonna plopped down next to me and leaned her head back against the wall.

  “You guys look like you’ve been hit by trucks,” I mumbled.

  “Try helicopter,” corrected Vonna. Shad and I both raised our heads to look at her, eyebrows lifted. She shrugged her small shoulders as if to say, “What? It’s true.” She paused for effect, then continued. “So who’s up for some time in the sandbox?” Vonna said with mock cheerfulness.

  “Pass,” Shad and I both said at the same time. We were quiet for a while, enjoying the silence and not having to move.

  My stomach growled loudly, and they both looked at me.

  “Hungry?” Shad asked and I nodded, rubbing my rumbling midsection.

  “I’ve got some rations stashed in one of the spa suites,” Vonna said, her violet eyes glinting, and a smile tugging at her lips. "Invite your friends up. Room 3604.” Vonna stood up. “You can’t take the elevator. The whole bank got taken out by the chopper explosion. Hope you don’t mind the hike. Meet you guys up there in a few?”

  “Sure,” I said. Room 3604? “Does that mean the room is on the thirty-sixth floor?” I asked Shad, as Vonna disappeared down the dark hallway.

  “These rations better be worth it,” he said, helping me to my feet. “I’ll go tell Grey to meet us up there. Did you want to find Rissi?”

  I nodded, and we parted ways. Shad went back into the ballroom, and I walked through the dark hallway to the main casino floor. Dust and soot hung heavily in the air, making me cough. As I passed the exhibit holding all the fish, I saw a resident haul out a massive salmon that would probably end up being dinner for most everyone tonight.

  I passed a row of blackjack tables, where a large group of people ate. I asked them where the stairs were, and one of them pointed me to a far corner.

  I slowly climbed to the second story, feeling lightheaded with hunger. I found room 212 and gently pushed open the door. They were all still asleep, worn out from the long and harrowing night before. The sounds of slumbering children greeted me, their shallow breathing punctuated with the occasional sigh. Children covered the pullout couch and chairs in the living area. I went into the bedroom and found a group of girls lining the bed, with Rissi spread out across the foot of it.

  I crept to Rissi and gently brushed her soft, brown curls with my hand. Her eyes slowly parted, and she groggily stared up at me. It took almost thirty seconds before she reacted, jumping up to hug me. Her little arms locked tightly around my shoulders, and her legs flew around my waist.

  “Autumn! I knew you would come!”

  “Shhh... don’t wake your friends,” I said. “Of course I came. I had to make sure you and Connie were okay.”

  “Some of the others got hurt. Daniel made us come in here. I wanted to stay with Connie, but he wouldn’t let me.”

  “I know,” I said. “You were being very brave by helping Connie, but I’m glad you listened to Daniel. I have a surprise for you. Do you wanna see?”

  She leaned back far enough to look me in the eyes.

  “Are we going home now?”

  “Not yet, we have to wait for Connie to get well. Is there a flashlight in here? I think we’ll need it for you to see the surprise.”

  “Daniel left one with us. Some of the other kids were scared.” She released my neck and dropped to the floor, then tiptoed through the sleeping children and came back with a flashlight.

  “Perfect,” I said. We left the room, and I took a moment to acclimate before leading her to the south wall of rooms. When I was above the center entrance that Franklin pointed out earlier, I tried the door handle. It was unlocked. “Let’s hope we’re not disturbing anyone.” Rissi giggled at me as she watched me peek in, making sure the room was unoccupied.

  “Looks good. Come on in,” I said as I opened the door farther for her.

  “Why’d you put my surprise in here?”

  “Well, it’s not exactly in here.” I went to the window and peeked beyond the curtain. Perfect, I thought, and smiled. “It’s out there,” I said and pulled open the curtains, letting the afternoon sunshine pour in.

  Her eyes lit up as she saw him. Ben was just outside the glass, digging with Sam. Sand covered the bottom of the window by about three feet, but I was glad to see they seemed to be making quick progress. Rissi squealed.

  “It’s Ben!” She hopped up on a chair and pounded on the thick glass where his feet were. Ben didn’t notice. “Why can’t he see me?!” She moaned.

  “The glass is black on the other side. This might help.” I joined her on the chair and held the flashlight up to the window and began to wave it across the glass and up at Ben’s eyes. It took a moment, but I could tell when it caught Ben’s attention. He stopped his digging, stared oddly at the window, and then dropped to his knees and pressed his hands up to the glass to look inside. Rissi pressed her mouth against the glass and blew, making her cheeks look fat and swollen.

  Ben definitely saw that. He laughed and got Sam’s attention and pointed at us. Her face broke into a bright smile, and she waved. Ben grabbed her, hugging her in his joy.

  Taken aback, I looked away. An uneasiness came over me.

  “Who’s she? I don’t remember her,” Rissi said.

  “Just a new friend,” I said, trying to play it off. Rissi remembered leaving The Water Tower to move to the hideout in the basement of Hollywood High School, but she wouldn’t remember Sam, who had been lying face down on the driveway, unconscious, as we ran by her and the other Front Greeters who had chased me home.

  Ben started miming at us through the window, and I realized he meant he and Sam were coming inside the Egyptian. He turned to leave, but I pounded on the glass to get his attention. He put his face up to the glass, blocking the light with his hands.

  I motioned that we were going to eat and pointed at him and Sam. Then I held up three fingers, then six fingers. Then I made a zero shape with my h
and, followed by four fingers. He nodded, and after waving one last time to Rissi, they picked up their shovels and headed toward the rope hanging on the side of the Egyptian.

  “Our new friend, Vonna, invited us up to one of the spa suites to eat,” I told Rissi. “Hungry?”

  “Starving!”

  We ran into Shad in the stairwell on the twenty-sixth floor. He was asleep, propped up against the railing. Rissi jumped on him, and he woke suddenly with a groan and gently adjusted her knee away from his stomach.

  “You’re getting too big to do that,” he said, sleepily. “So you survived?”

  Rissi nodded and stood up, her face pink with embarrassment.

  “Dang, I thought we got rid of you. You know my name is on your Molly doll if you croak while I’m still alive.”

  “Shad!” I admonished him. “Why do you always have to say the most inappropriate thing?”

  “And why do you have to continuously be scandalized by my comments? You’ve known me long enough now. You should expect them. And Rissi,” he looked at her with a serious face. “You don’t have to give me Molly. You know I’m more of a Kit fan anyway.” His face split in a grin.

  “I’m too old for dolls anymore anyway,” she said, giggling. I raised my eyebrows, looking down at her. I knew she slept with her Molly doll every night, but I kept my mouth shut.

  “Only ten more floors!” I exclaimed in a falsely cheerful voice and paused to lean heavily against the railing. “We’ve already climbed six hundred and twelve steps so far!”

  “Leave me here and save yourself!” Shad said, flailing his arms. Rissi laughed and grabbed one of them, pulling him to his feet. He looked at me as he blinked sleep out of his eyes. “Six hundred and twelve steps. The things I do for a hot shower.”

  The last ten flights of stairs took forever because of frequent breaking. By the time we burst into the hallway on the thirty-sixth floor, my sides were aching, and my knees wobbled.

  Vonna met us in the hallway. “Welcome to my personal heaven!” She ushered us into the suite, leaving the door open behind us.

  The smile died from my lips as I entered the room. It was more than just a room. I looked around in amazement. It was beautiful. The room was about five times the size of the room Rissi had been sleeping in. There were several floor-to-ceiling windows, all slanting in, making up the inside of the pyramid. The bed was massive and freshly made with crisp white sheets. A large green cactus stood next to a giant wardrobe made of dark wood with elegant hieroglyphic carvings etched into it. A wide purple couch squatted in front of one of the large windows, looking out onto the still city.

  “Nice! A hot tub!” Shad called from the other side of the room, and I hurried over to look. A few steps up, the hot tub had its own corner, directly underneath one of the slanting windows.

  “This suite is amazing,” I said to Vonna. “It’s a shame it’s thirty-six flights up.”

  “Helps keep it secret,” she said, winking.

  “That’s Rissi,” I said, motioning to her. “Her brother Ben came with us from Hoover. He’s been outside digging, so you haven’t met him yet. He’s on his way up though, with...” I paused, unsure of how to describe Sam. “Um, with another girl from Hoover. Come say hi to Vonna, Rissi,” I urged her, but she didn’t turn away from the table she was standing in front of.

  “Rissi?” I walked over to her, and the rest of the table came into view. I saw why she was transfixed. Candy bars, bags of chips, bottles of soda and other sweets were piled high.

  “Your rations?” I asked Vonna, and she nodded.

  “I broke into some of the minibars a while ago,” she said, grinning. “Thought it might come in handy some day.”

  “I think I’m in love,” Shad said, appearing behind us to stare at the pile of goodies.

  “Are you sure you want to share all this with us?” I asked.

  “Of course I do. You all came when we needed help.” Vonna shrugged. “Consider it a thank you.”

  We decided to wait for Ben and Sam to arrive. Shad said Grey wouldn’t be able to leave the ballroom for a little while, but he’d be up when he could. We sat around the table, fidgeting like it was Christmas morning.

  Shad suddenly grabbed a bag of M&M’s and ripped the side open so the colorful little candies scattered across the table. “Oh man, check it out! The bag just spontaneously burst open all by itself!”

  Rissi’s eyes went wide, and she looked at me desperately. I laughed and said, “Oh fine, go ahead. Don’t wait for your brother.”

  She snatched up a green candy and popped it into her mouth. A grin spread across her face, and she giggled. “I forgot what it tasted like!” she said, laughing.

  I picked up a red one and let it dissolve slowly on my tongue. I was instantly brought back to a memory of the last time I’d eaten M&M’s. At the warehouse store back in Los Angeles. When I’d first met Karl. And Sam. Strange how experiences like this lined up. That day couldn’t have been more different from this one. Yet, Sam was here. And so were the M&M’s.

  Ben and Sam finally arrived, and we moved the food to the floor in front of the largest window and the big purple couch. Sam was barely limping anymore. When I asked how she was doing, she said, “Oh, it hardly hurts at all. I think walking around on it so much outside helped work it out.” She unrolled some grape-flavored Fruit By The Foot and offered me a large piece. As I ripped it off, she stuck her tongue out at me.

  “Is it purple yet?” she asked around her tongue. It indeed was very purple, along with the rest of her mouth. I nodded, and she laughed hysterically, then covered her purple-stained teeth and lips, embarrassed.

  It wasn’t long before we were high from the sugar and calories, telling stories and laughing at each other.

  “Rissi, do you remember when you locked me out of the house ‘cause you were mad at me?” Ben asked. Rissi nodded sleepily from her perch above us on the purple couch. She’d already eaten her fill and was laying down, her orange-powder-covered fingers brushing the floor by an unfinished bag of Cheetos.

  “You turned off my show,” she mumbled.

  “And then I went outside to get the mail, and you locked the door behind me,” Ben said, shaking with laughter.

  “You were so bossy,” Rissi said dejectedly, and we all cracked up again.

  “What did you do?” I asked Ben.

  “I did what any other well-adjusted fifteen-year-old boy would do. I called the police.”

  “You what?!” shrieked Sam, and we all collapsed on each other, laughing hard.

  “Dad was so pissed when he came home from work and found three cop cars and half the neighborhood gathered outside while we tried to persuade a five-year-old to unlock the door.”

  Vonna shook with laughter so hard, her soda can slipped from her fingers and landed on the floor, fizzing over onto the carpet. I jumped up and grabbed a towel from the bathroom, but she waved me away as she fell back, clutching her sides. “It’s all right,” she managed. “We’re moving to the Palmetto anyway!”

  We were still laughing when Grey appeared in the doorway. He stared in bewilderment at the six of us gathered in a circle on the floor around a pile of trash and still untouched junk food.

  “I could hear you from the stairwell,” he said, smiling. “Made the last ten floors a lot easier.”

  “Well, Doctor,” Vonna said, “Laughter is the best medicine.”

  We all dissolved into giggles again as Grey settled himself on the floor across from me. Shad picked up the towel I brought from the bathroom and draped it over his forearm, then said in his terrible British accent, “Tonight, good doctor, sir, we have a special menu planned by our executive chef, just for the occasion.”

  He picked up a bag of Fritos. “We will begin with a light appetizer of chipped corn and an aperitif of your choice, grape or l’orange.” He spat out the last word in mangled French and motioned to two unopened cans of soda.

  “Avez-vous un pinot noir? Ou peut-être un chardonne
y?” Grey asked Shad seriously.

  Shad paused for several moments, staring at Grey, then simply said, “Nein,” the German word for “no.”

  It was Grey’s turn. His whole face brightened, and his laugh shook the room. He grabbed the towel from Shad’s arm and flung it in his face, then took an orange soda and cracked it open.

  “Your French has a little German in it,” Grey said chuckling.

  Sam chimed in. “Did you take French in school? Don’t most doctors take Latin?”

  Grey nodded as he pawed through the pile of food. “I took both.”

  “Where did you go to school?”

  “UCLA, and Cambridge,” he added, settling back against the wall with a Clark Bar. “I exchanged there for a few semesters.”

  “Wow, like in England?” Sam asked, impressed. “You’re pretty young to already be in college.”

  “I was, uh, a little ahead,” he said modestly. His eyes met mine as he took another swig of his soda, and a small thrill ran through me.

  “That’s so cool. What were you doing in LA when The Plague struck then?”

  “I was at UCLA for that semester,” he said simply.

  “Man, I would’ve stayed in England,” Sam said bitterly.

  “What high school did you go to?” Ben asked her.

  “Santa Monica High.”

  “Are you kidding? I went to Samohi, too!” Ben exclaimed. “I can’t believe we went to the same school. That’s crazy! Were you a junior?”

  “No, a sophomore. I never saw you. That’s so weird!” she exclaimed.

  Ben and Sam stared at each other until she looked away purposefully. She dug through the junk food pile and unearthed a package of Ho Hos.

  Shad’s eyes lit up when he saw the package. “Sam, what might a guy do to persuade you to give him those Ho Hos?”

  She looked at the unopened package in her hand and at Shad’s longing eyes and said, “Oh, the power I hold in my hands!” She moved the bag to the right and left and laughed as Shad’s unwavering eyes followed the movement.

 

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