by Fitch, E. M.
“I used to do yoga,” she said, wedging her toes under her low bed frame and folding her body up into a sit-up position. “We could try that later, if you want.”
“Thanks, yeah,” Kaylee said, breathing out forcefully while counting off in her head.
Ten, eleven, twelve…
She didn’t want to say it, not out loud, and not to Emma, but the more and more Kaylee thought about it, the more she was worried about how she had felt when running with Jack from the infected.
They were so fast.
And Kaylee was so slow; and out of breath and sore and achy. And it wasn’t just her bruises and scrapes. She was seriously out of shape. She didn’t ever want to be caught in that situation again. Next time, if she had to run, she’d run fast.
Emma grunted and rolled back over, turning her back on Anna and her sister. Kaylee ignored her. Anna was still going strong, faster and longer than Kaylee could. She fell back on the worn wooden floor, sucking air in through pursed lips.
“Don’t worry about it Kay,” Anna murmured, slowing down and watching Kaylee. “We’ll keep working on it. You’re young, it won’t take long.”
“Thanks.”
“Some running would help too, maybe sprints on the rooftop?”
“Yeah, okay,” Kaylee agreed. “Now?”
“Sure, why not.”
They shut the door to Emma’s muttered, “You’re both nuts!”
~
A knock sounded, faint compared to the noise from outside. Glass shattered, the infected moaned and shrieked, the thuds of broken fists and feet against closed doors echoed. A rising sun cast their room in brilliant hues, setting the glass of her lone picture frame shining a bright, blinding white. Kaylee threw off her covers, completely dressed, shoes on, to let Andrew into the room.
“Sun’s up. You ready?” he whispered, motioning for Kaylee and Emma to follow him. Emma nodded, shoving her feet in her worn sneakers and hurrying past Anna’s already empty bed. Andrew held the door wide for both girls, the last to follow Kaylee into the hall.
“You’re sure, Kay?” Emma whispered, catching up to her sister.
“Jack said today.”
He had caught her, earlier that morning before the sun had risen. Heat had raced up her arm at his touch as he pulled her from the hall and into her old bedroom.
It was funny because for over a year it had been her room, but she had felt awkward and nervous when she entered. He slept there now, with Quinton. It was their room for as long as they stayed. An indefinable feeling flared in Kaylee’s chest at the sight of his leather jacket tossed over her old bed, the covers rumpled, the sheet pulled back.
“Your father doesn’t want you to know this and he doesn’t want you there, but he, Anna, Bill, Quinton, and I are all meeting in the garage at sunrise.” His hand ghosted from her upper arm to her wrist, lightly tracing the contours of the brace she still wore, a wake of goose bumps trailing his calloused fingertips.
“I, hmm?” she murmured, focused too entirely on the feel of his skin, on the way his eyes caught and held hers. He chuckled before he kissed her lightly.
“Focus Kaylee,” he murmured. Kaylee recognized the laugh teasing in his tone, but she felt her eyes drift shut anyway at his proximity. But then he was backing away, smirking at her now from across the room. She cleared her throat.
“As I was saying, I think you should hear what has to be said,” Jack continued, ducking his head and hiding his grin as he sat on the bed. The metal springs creaked.
“Right,” she answered, licking her lips as she felt a blush heat her cheeks, “the garage. Sunrise.”
“They think that even if you wanted to, you wouldn’t be able to hear. All the noise, you know?” Kaylee nodded, already thinking of a way around it. A smile slowly overtook her features.
“So, you know a way?” he asked, but he was smirking. He knew she did.
“Make them meet by the workbench, okay?”
“Done.”
“I have to talk to Andrew,” she said, her hand already behind her, searching for the doorknob. Jack opened his mouth but shut it quickly, deciding against whatever it was he was going to say. He had frowned but nodded his head anyway as Kaylee had slipped outside.
“Is it on?” Emma asked, turning to look back at Andrew as she hit the top step. He nodded. “Why can’t we hear it? Aren’t they there yet?”
“The volume’s down,” Andrew whispered. “Let’s get closer first.”
Kaylee reached the landing ahead of Emma and Andrew. She peered around the corner, but there was no real need for her caution. The kitchen was empty, as she knew it would be. By now everyone else would be gathered in the garage, hopefully by the workbench where Andrew had planted the large, black walkie-talkie that he had dug up out of the firehouse storage several months back. A stack of pennies was duct taped to the transmitter button, keeping it depressed and broadcasting.
It was funny how important money had seemed before the infection swept the country. Metal and fabric and paper all pounded and pressed together and people fought and died and worried over it. And now, now there was nothing more useless. Kaylee found Emma flicking coins off the roof one day, Andrew copying her, attempting to hit the infected from above. She got a couple before Kaylee could reprimand her, they groaned and shrieked as the flying metal hit them. Kaylee had collected all the rest of the change and put it in a jar in her room. She didn’t take it for safekeeping or saving, but to keep Emma from torturing the people roaming the streets below. Just yesterday Kaylee saw Bill lighting the cook fire with ten-dollar bills. Really, it was such useless junk now.
“Good thing you kept these,” Emma murmured, pointing to the walkie-talkies.
“Good thing he didn’t totally run down the batteries,” Kaylee corrected, crossing to the living room quickly and keeping a wide arch around the central feature in the room: the fire pole. When Andrew had first found the set of radios, he had been ecstatic, thrilled with the opportunity to find other people. Of course, there was no one within listening distance and it wasn’t long before he had chucked them to the bottom of the closet he shared with his dad. Andrew moved closer to her, pulling his corresponding walkie-talkie from his pocket and bending his head to fiddle with the dials. Emma teetered on the threshold to the living room, biting her lip.
“Can’t we just stay in the kitchen?” she hissed.
“It’s better in here,” Andrew whispered. “We’ll see them coming.”
“You came in here just the other night,” Kaylee pointed out, rolling her eyes. Emma grit her teeth and huffed, moving closer with jerky steps.
“I can see them,” Andrew said, dropping to his stomach and inching closer to the fire pole. He passed the transmitter to Kaylee as she knelt by his feet. Emma was perched just over her shoulder. “Here, turn it up. I want to make sure they don’t notice.”
Her father was right about one thing. With the scratching of nails on the brick exterior walls of the fire station garage, the moans and the guttural cries, Kaylee couldn’t hear one word of what was being said below. She grabbed the walkie-talkie from Andrew and twisted the volume knob clockwise. Static, followed by scratchy voices, flared slowly to life.
“I don’t know why you think we have anything to talk about, Quinton.” Even through the static, Nick’s voice was harsh and unforgiving.
“He’ll never agree,” Kaylee whispered, shaking her head. “There’s no way he’ll go. It’s just bad timing all around, really. Quinton pushed him too far the other night.”
“Jackass,” Andrew muttered over the static arguments.
“He’s not,” Emma offered in a small voice.
“Don’t you start, Em!” Andrew growled, whipping his head around to glare at her. “I’m still pissed at you for that little joke the other day, don’t you dare start now!”
“It’s not a joke,” she whispered, her voice falling away at the look on Andrew’s face. Kaylee shushed them both.
“Not now! Lis
ten!”
“But what about Emma?” It was Quinton’s quiet voice.
“You stay away from her!” Nick roared. There was a commotion that sounded from below. Kaylee started towards the opening, but Andrew put his hand up, holding her back.
“It’s okay, my Dad’s got him.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Quinton continued. His voice still calm and even. “You said it yourself, don’t you remember?”
There was no answer. Kaylee glanced at Emma who shrugged, she couldn’t figure out what Quinton meant either.
“She could be the cure. She could save us all.”
The weight of the silence that followed almost drowned out the feral shrieks from outside. Kaylee felt Emma stiffen behind her.
“It could really be immunity and if it is, then there is the possibility of a cure. But not here, Nick. Not here.” That was Anna, her voice was still doubtful, but there was a ring of sincerity there. Nick didn’t answer and Kaylee steeled herself. Because she now realized that there was only one word left that would convince him and she was sure someone would use it.
“Nick—”
“Bill, don’t.” There was a low plead in Nick’s voice because he knew, just as Kaylee knew, the word that was coming next.
“Susan.”
Kaylee flinched as her mother’s name fell from Bill’s lips. It was the ultimate offense and the best argument. Bill was saying more with that one word than he could with any speeches. It said they had to leave, had to take Emma and find a cure, had to, because if they could succeed, maybe Susan could be cured. Maybe Susan could live. It was the best and fastest way to break her father.
“Bill. Anna.” Nick’s voice broke and Kaylee cringed, hating to hear her father hurting so much. Emma’s small hand found her shoulder and she squeezed, and Kaylee let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Andrew’s eyes were focused on the scene below him, his body still stretched across the floor towards the opening. “I’m not… I don’t know.”
“We understand, Nick.”
“What about you?”
Kaylee nudged Andrew, confused. “Who does he mean?”
But Jack’s voice sounded next, confident and strong over the static. “What about me?”
“Where do you stand,” Nick asked, clearly stalling. In the pause that followed Kaylee literally felt her heart stop beating.
“With you, wherever you are.”
“What? Why?” Nick stammered in surprise, no doubt eyeing Jack suspiciously.
“Kaylee,” Jack said simply. Kaylee pictured him shrugging offhandedly, but there was nothing casual about his statement.
It was Andrew’s turn to stiffen as Emma let out a little squeak. There was no denying the meaning behind his declaration. It couldn’t have been any clearer if the entire group had walked in on them while they were monopolizing the roof the other day.
And then someone was laughing. Anna. Just a few well placed chuckles, probably at the expression that had crossed her father’s face. Emma punched Kaylee on the shoulder.
“You didn’t tell me.” Amusement dominated her tone.
“It’s kind of a new development,” Kaylee whispered back, intensely aware that Andrew had yet to look at her. His breathing was short but forceful, his knuckles white from gripping the edge of the opening too hard. Emma giggled.
“Oh,” came Nick’s gruff voice. He cleared his throat. Kaylee had almost forgotten the people below, focused as she was now on the taunt muscles in Andrew’s back. She touched his leg and felt his calf contract, the muscle tighten, as though his very skin wanted to be further away from her. She pulled her fingers back as Anna’s chuckle sounded again.
“Well, that doesn’t really answer the immediate question about Emma,” Anna said. Kaylee thought she could have tried a little harder to keep the smile from her tone.
“All I meant was that either way I wasn’t going anywhere. Here, there, Alaska someday, it doesn’t matter to me. Whatever’s decided, I’ll go with it,” Jack answered in his easy tone. Kaylee knew his answer was honest, but still it was anything but easy. He wanted to leave, wanted it badly. It was only for her he would stay.
“Kaylee’s love life aside,” Bill interjected roughly. “What do you say Nick? It’s the best way. With Emma the way she is,” Emma cringed besides Kaylee, “you know it’s the only option.”
Andrew was suddenly on his feet. His hands gripped the cold, metal pole and without a single glance at either girl, he dropped to the garage. His voice could be heard, scratchy and fragmented, over the radio that Kaylee still gripped in her fingers.
“I agree, Dad,” he said, loud and forceful. Kaylee and Emma both hurried to edge to watch. Andrew threw one long look at Jack before adding, “I can’t live here anymore. We need to leave.”
“I think you broke him,” Emma whispered to her sister. Kaylee glared at her.
Anna was laughing again, looking from Andrew to the faces of both girls. “Good plan, Nick,” she chuckled. “But I think they heard it all anyway.”
Nick scowled up at his daughters as Andrew picked up his walkie-talkie from the workbench and threw it to him. He shook his head and spoke very clearly into the receiver. “You have chores. If you don’t need sleep, best get to them.”
Kaylee rolled her eyes and Emma groaned.
“Does this mean we’re going?” she yelled, once again leaning dangerously out of the opening. Kaylee was already reaching for her belt to pull her back over the lip. Every eye turned to Nick.
“We’re going,” he said through a grimace.
Jack’s smile reached ear to ear.
Chapter Twelve
“He’ll be fine,” Emma assured for the third time. Kaylee bit her lip and shook her head.
“You don’t get it Em,” she countered. “He’s asked me, pleaded with me, I’ve turned him down each time.”
“Then he shouldn’t be so surprised,” Emma sniffed, her tone a bit colder than before.
It had been three days since the decision was made to leave. Three days since Andrew had last spoken to Kaylee. And Kaylee felt absolutely wretched about it.
He wasn’t being very mature about it all, but then again neither had she. She should have told him. Outright and honestly told him that she and Jack were together. She hadn’t and instead it had come out in the worst possible way: a group announcement. And it was only belatedly that Kaylee realized that Andrew deserved more than that. Anna and Emma had teased her for not telling them, her father had grunted at her, but it was Andrew who had needed to hear it from her first of all.
And mixed with the guilt was a twinge of irritation. Jack could have warned her. He knew Andrew would be listening, did he honestly think that was the best way to tell him? He knew how Andrew felt, encouraged it even at one point. It was either heartless or careless of him and Kaylee couldn’t decide which one.
But Jack at least had apologized. When she confronted him, later that day, he had look repentant.
“I’m sorry,” he said, frowning. “You’re right, that probably wasn’t the best way to handle it.”
“Probably not, no,” Kaylee answered, her eyes on the door Andrew had just exited from. He had left them both alone in the living room as soon as Kaylee had entered.
“But, he’ll be okay,” Jack rushed to add, looking hopeful. Kaylee had bit her lip and hummed, having difficulty moving her eyes from where she had last seen Andrew.
“And anyway,” Emma continued, wrenching Kaylee from her thoughts. “It’s not as though you’re the last girl on earth.” Kaylee shot her sister an exasperated look. Because though yes, technically that was the truth, after all Anna and Emma did count, she was completely off the point with that comment. Anna held absolutely no interest for Andrew and Emma…
Well, it was complicated with Emma.
“Just forget it,” Kaylee muttered, grabbing the basket of dirty laundry from her sister’s hands. “I’ll take care of this, you get to the pantry and start cleaning i
t out.”
“I meant in Alaska,” Emma muttered, her hands falling limply to her sides. Kaylee stopped, her foot already poised on the first step to the roof.
“I know,” Kaylee whispered, not knowing what else to say as Emma’s face fell. There was rarely a crack in the cheerful mask she forced on everyday; when one happened, it was heartbreaking.
The scattered stars shone clear and bright and Kaylee needed no lantern to wash and hang the laundry that night. Everyone had been working around the clock, taking on chores individually that were normally done in groups. Now that the decision to leave was made, it seemed everyone wanted to get going as soon as possible. But it would have been stupid to scamper off without scavenging every last bit of usable material from the city.
Quinton and Jack had spent the nights collecting gasoline. Unknown to Kaylee, they had a tanker truck that they had left somewhere on the outskirts of the city. Apparently when they drove across the country, Jack drove the Hummer and Quinton the tanker truck. Jack explained that the Hummer did better in the crowded cities and also, with their special reinforcements, wasn’t bad at clearing some of the highways where vehicles had been abandoned. The tanker truck had been less than a quarter filled when they had arrived. They were hoping to remedy that.
Anna spent time organizing and packing her medical supplies. Quinton was impressed when she began to lay them all out. Vials and packets and syringes and gauze all sat in neat little piles around the room. Names that Kaylee didn’t recognize and could barely pronounce marked the contents.
“What’s this?” Kaylee had asked, picking up a packet of vials marked Diphenhydramine.
“It’s just Benedryl,” Anna answered. “But it’s good for anaphylaxis.”
Kaylee had given up after that.
The sounds of night surrounded her, lending a soothing, quiet music. She had never enjoyed the sound of nature before, the croaking tree frogs and crickets that just missed an attempt at rhythm usually annoyed her. But they didn’t annoy her tonight. Maybe she was getting used to it. She siphoned out some cold rainwater from the large collection container in the corner before she set to work washing the clothes. It was easy, mindless work and she was glad for it. Her thoughts drifted, as they often seemed to these past few nights, into uneasy territory.