Apokalypsis Book One

by Kate Morris

  “You could homeschool us. That would keep Connor safe,” he suggested.

  She rolled her eyes and said, “Roman! Seriously. Am I supposed to do that from an airplane or a cab? What do you want me to do? Quit my job?”

  She had no idea how badly he wanted to tell her yes. He didn’t, though.

  “No, I just thought until this all blows over.”

  She rolled her eyes and said, “On the news, they said it would probably last the entire flu season. Then they explained that it mostly goes until late March or early April. You can’t miss half the school year. You’re a senior, Roman. You’ll end up in summer school. It would screw up your scholarship opportunities.”

  He nodded, even though he completely disagreed with her. Plus, he didn’t have the heart to break into the discussion of his not going to college and joining the Army instead.

  “I’m going to my pilates class now,” she said. “Can you watch Connor?”

  “Of course,” he said tightly. “But I have plans tonight, so you gotta be home by six-thirty.”

  “With that girl again?” his mother asked.

  “What girl?” his dad repeated with curiosity.

  His mother’s demeanor became stiff as she answered, “The apple lady’s daughter…”

  “Granddaughter. And her name is Mrs. Barnes. She’s very nice.”

  “The one with the twenty acres who won’t sell?” his dad asked, distractedly.

  “Yeah, and she shouldn’t,” Roman said, defending her decision. “It’s a beautiful property. It would be a waste to throw fifty houses on it.”

  “I think it’s an eyesore,” his mother argued.

  He gritted his teeth and didn’t answer. She had a glass of red wine in her hand, although it wasn’t even mealtime or evening. He didn’t think his mother was an alcoholic, but she did love her wine. His father wasn’t crazy about her habit but knew enough not to argue. He told Roman once that he would have to learn as an adult married man to pick the battles he felt were most important.

  “I don’t know if you should be dating that girl,” his mother said in a judgmental tone.

  “Don’t even start. I’m eighteen, almost nineteen. I’ll date who I want,” he stated firmly.

  “Hey,” his father interrupted with a bit of temper at Roman backtalking his mother. He turned to her and asked, “What’s wrong with him dating her granddaughter?’

  “Her mother’s in prison or something, or so I’ve heard,” his mother said and swirled her red wine in the goblet.

  “Is that true, Roman?”

  “Yes, it’s true, but that doesn’t have anything to do with Jane. She’s lived with her grandmother for the last four years, and I’ve never once heard her talk about her mother. I don’t think she has anything to do with her.”

  “But it’s still her family. She could end up like her mother.”

  “Mom, get real,” he said. “Just because you’re a workaholic, doesn’t mean I will be.”

  This time she actually sighed dramatically as if he were exhausting her and said, “Really, Roman.”

  “Am I going to get to meet her?” his dad asked.

  Roman sighed, “Maybe.”

  “Are you using protection?” he asked next.

  “Dad! Jesus! We’ve only just started seeing one another. She’s what you would call a reluctant girlfriend. She-she’s had a hard time of it at school. She’s been bullied a lot in the past because of her mother. She’s not real trusting if you know what I mean. A lot of my friends were real assholes to her.”

  “Well, if it comes to that, just make sure you use protection.”

  “God,” Roman said with irritation. “Yes, I will. I’m not stupid.”

  “Good.”

  His mother left the room in what could only be called a huff for not getting her way. He figured she didn’t want him dating Jane, but that was just too damn bad. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her. She was a good person. So was her grandmother. And Jane had a strong moral code. She’d shown that last night at the quarry when she’d been the only one to rush in and help that injured girl, who probably wasn’t ever even nice to her.

  He rode bikes with Connor around the neighborhood since the sun was out. Then he made them lunch, and they sat together and talked. He made sure to discuss this flu with his little brother but left out the grittier details. He warned Connor to wash his hands a lot and that he’d know if he wasn’t. Then they played video games for a while before he went upstairs to get cleaned up for his date with Jane.

  At precisely seven, he knocked on her door. She answered it with a towel on her head.

  “I need ten minutes,” she said.

  “Take your time,” he told her with a smile and followed her in.

  “Sorry, had a few problems come up at the barn,” she explained needlessly.

  “Nothing too terrible, I hope,” he commented, smiling again at her frazzled behavior and waving arms. She was so much more relaxed in her home.

  “Not unless you count having a horse tangled up in its show blanket and taking a half hour chasing it around the pasture to catch it and then get it calmed down and untangled.”

  “How did…”

  “Don’t even ask,” she cut him off. “Horses aren’t geniuses.”

  He laughed and closed the door behind him.

  “Nana Peaches is out with her friends again,” she said. “Then she had to run some errands, so make yourself at home. I’ll be right back.”

  She ran up the stairs, probably to her bedroom. The sound of a blow-dryer came on a second later. The news was on like it always was at Jane’s, and Roman turned up the volume. It didn’t take long before they were discussing the flu virus again. Most of the reporting sounded like bullshit lies they were feeding the public. He’d seen that the doctor was coming on the kook network again tonight at nine, so he had set it to record while he was gone.

  The creaking of the stairs let him know she was coming down, “Done. Now I don’t smell like horses.”

  “You look great. You never smell like horses,” he said honestly. She was wearing black cotton pants and a dark green sweater that stopped at the tops of her pants but didn’t expose her tummy unless she raised her arms, which he hoped she’d do before the night was out so he could see it again. It only made him remember that fateful blue bikini, and Roman wished she were wearing that instead. Her hair was down around her face but not wet anymore. It was full and thick and lush, and he’d like nothing better than to touch it and then sink his hands deep into it. He checked that impulse and said, “Ready to go?”

  “Yep,” she said with a spunky nod.

  As they approached the rack with their coats, she said, “Hey, this is your jacket. You lent it to me, remember?”

  “Thanks,” he said and took it from her. He was wearing another one tonight since his coat disappeared last night in the melee.

  Jane bent and pulled on low black ankle boots. Then she grabbed a worn and faded black leather jacket from one of the hooks. He opened the car door for her, and she got in.

  “Where are we going?” she asked when he got in.

  “Steak sound good?” he asked her. “You’re not a vegetarian, are you?”

  “No,” she answered with a smile.

  Roman drove them to a local surf and turf restaurant owned by friends of his parents. He’d called in to make sure he could get them a table, which was not a problem since he knew the owners. Mrs. Everly had taken his reservation and told him to say hello to his mother for her.

  They were shown to their table in the back, which was actually a small, circular booth in a quieter, less crowded part of the bustling, popular restaurant. The lighting was dim, and a corner fireplace put off a soft orange glow that added ambiance and extra heat. He’d specifically asked for this booth so that he could sit next to Jane instead of across from her. The waitress brought them their drinks and a basket of warm bread.

  “What are you gonna have?” he asked.
<
br />   “I think…shrimp,” she said.

  “You can have lobster if you want, or steak,” he told her.

  “We don’t have seafood very often because Nana Peaches doesn’t like it, so for me, shrimp is a treat.”

  “Cool. You could still have lobster. Don’t worry. I’m paying.”

  “I have my own money,” she protested. “I have a job. Two of them, remember?”

  He chuckled and sipped his Coke. “I’m not taking the cutest girl in school out and letting her pay for her own dinner.”

  She stopped in mid-reach for her drink and looked at him with a sour expression. “Funny.”

  “And yes, she’s funny, too,” he said, twisting her words. “Cute and funny and charming and a lot sexy.”

  Jane’s mouth pinched with irritation.

  “And a little grouchy,” he teased, getting a deeper sneer. “So, lobster or shrimp?” he asked, enjoying her tiny frowns and scowls.

  “I’ve never had lobster, so I’m going with shrimp.”

  “Never?”

  “No, it’s not exactly in the budget,” she reminded him.

  He nodded and kept right on going, “Cool, I’ll order the lobster dip for an appetizer. That way you can try it.”

  The waitress took their orders and left, and Roman scooted closer and put his arm around the back of the booth behind her.

  “How was work?”

  “Really? That’s what you want to talk about? What about your parents? Did you tell them about last night yet?”

  He smiled at her straightforwardness, a quality he was coming to like about her. She didn’t pull a lot of punches. What you saw with Jane was what you got. He liked that. She wasn’t a game player.

  “Alright, no chit chat. We’re cutting straight to the chase.”

  “You really wanna’ hear about how I shoveled horse manure?”

  “Sure,” he said with a smile and admired how the dim, orangish-red glow from the chandelier above them made her hair seem coppery in color. “I like listening to you talk about anything.”

  “Parents,” she said firmly.

  He chuckled and had to resist the urge to kiss her, “Okay. Yes, I told them. My dad was pissed that I didn’t tell the police I’d give them a statement with a lawyer present. He’s concerned I could’ve implicated myself.”

  “The police didn’t even act all that surprised, Roman,” she reminded him.

  “I know.”

  She paused thoughtfully before saying, “And no media? News vans should’ve been on the scene. A teenager starts stabbing other kids at a party, and not one reporter? They love crap like that.”

  “Agreed,” he said, observing the way she wrinkled her mouth when she was in deep thought. “It was surreal, the whole thing.”

  “It was as if last night wasn’t the first time the cops were called to something like that. They were awfully calm for a teenage mass murder rampage.”

  “Remember last Christmas those two teenagers who stabbed people from their school? I mean, every news organization in the country showed up.”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “The dudes that converted to Islam and started going full psycho stabbing girls from their school who were at the mall,” he told her, waiting for it to click. “In New Jersey? The kids who killed like ten girls?”

  “Oh, right. That one. Nutcases.”

  “Yeah, well, it was like that minus the weird jihad. Except, you’re right, nobody showed up. Stuff like last night should be on the national news channels for weeks until people are numb to it and annoyed when it headlines.”

  “No kidding. I’d know. My grandma is a news addict.”

  He smiled thinking of her grandmother, who seemed tough but sweet. She obviously cared a lot about Jane, too.

  “And so, you told your parents? What’d they think?”

  “I don’t think my parents believed everything I was telling them.”

  “About what?”

  “Just the flu virus theory and the way the kid was acting. I could just tell. They weren’t buying it.”

  “Why not?”

  He shrugged, “I’m not that close with my parents. I…I went through sort of a rebellious phase a few years ago.”

  “Roman Lockwood rebel?” she asked then shook her head. “I can’t see it.”

  “Oh, well, believe it. I was even arrested for b and e.”

  She nearly spit her drink. “What? Breaking and entering? Where?”

  He wanted to kick himself. This was not a part of his past that he was proud of and wasn’t even sure why he’d just revealed it. Instead, he said, “It doesn’t matter. It was a juvenile rebellion period. You know, mommy and daddy attention-seeking idiocy.”

  “Spill,” she said and hit him with a level, hazel-tinted, and very direct- a very unusually direct for Jane- gaze.

  “Fine,” he said. “This isn’t exactly a side of me that I wanted to tell you about.”

  “And you knowing I have a mother serving hard time is something I want you to know about me?”

  “Your mother’s behavior and actions don’t define you. Therein lies the difference. This was shit I did.”

  “Good. Tell me what it was so I can sit in judgment of someone else for a change.”

  He paused unsure if she was joking. Then she tipped her head to the side and grinned. Her smile was adorable.

  “Fine,” he said but stopped as the waitress brought their salads and hot lobster dip. “You eat. I’ll explain. Try the lobster.”

  “Okay. Talk, criminal,” she teased, making him lighten up.

  “I was going through this stupid rebellious stage, acting out, being an idiot. I was fifteen. I started shoplifting, even though my parents gave me whatever money I needed and bought me whatever I wanted. Do you like that?”

  She scooped more lobster dip onto the tortilla chip. “I think this may be my new favorite food. Although I don’t think I can afford for it to be.”

  He smiled and took a bite of the creamy, cheesy alfredo style dip, too. It was exceptionally good.

  “Keep going, rebel boy.”

  He smirked. She was feistier than he thought. Roman was used to her looking at her shoes and having the general appearance of a whipped dog. Perhaps it just took her a while to warm up to people. If that were the case, he didn’t blame her.

  “Anyway, I even started smoking pot. One night when we were bored, Aaron, Tyler and I broke into a liquor store. It was completely unplanned. The alarm went off. The video cameras caught the whole thing. The cops came, and we were arrested trying to run away.”

  “How come I never heard about this? Nana Peaches knows everything about everything. She never told me.”

  “Because, Jane, the law works differently for rich people and their kids.”

  Her brow wrinkled with disbelief.

  “Our parents hired a good attorney who got us all off with a little community service and no public reporting.”

  “Oh,” she whispered.

  “That’s actually how I decided to go into the Army,” he explained.

  “Because you can’t go to college now?”

  “No, eat,” he said, worried that she was too thin. “No, I chose working with vets taking the older ones to doctors’ appointments and stuff like that as my community service. I thought it would be easier than picking up trash at the park. But I actually learned a lot from them. They were cool, ya’ know? I liked hearing their stories, listening to them talking about their time in the military, and about their buddies and the camaraderie. My folks don’t know, but that’s where I’m heading.”

  “I think that’s great, Roman. You know exactly what you want to do. That’s good. And it’s great that you turned your life around so drastically.”

  “Yeah, well, I did a lot of other bad things that I just didn’t get caught doing. Nothing I’m proud of. That’s why I don’t ever want to get into trouble again. If they would’ve busted us on everything we did, I never would’ve got
off on all those charges.”

  “Oh,” she said quietly.

  “Now you think I’m a real dirtball,” he said, reading her disappointment.

  “Did you rob old people?”

  “What? No, never,” Roman answered vehemently.

  “Kill anyone?”

  “Not counting last night? No.”

  She frowned as she scooped more lobster dip onto a chip, “You didn’t kill Caleb.”

  “I think I could have,” he confessed what had been bothering him most since last night.

  “You were just trying to protect more innocent people from being hurt by him.”

  “Yeah, I was, but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t out of control, too. I think I was going to kill him. My brain wasn’t telling me to stop. The only thing I kept thinking was that I needed to make him pass out. But, deep down, I think if he would’ve kept fighting and not passed out, I would’ve done what Brian did.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We’ll never know now. And besides, where the heck did you learn to do all that? Those fight moves and stuff.”

  “I took wrestling in middle school, but when I was going through the bad phase, I started taking kickboxing and cage fighting downtown at a rec center. The guys down there, they didn’t go easy on Brian and me just because we were spoiled rich teenagers. He took lessons with me. Some of the trainers were ex-military, too. I’m sure they knew I was being a dipshit, getting into trouble I shouldn’t have been, but they never said anything. Guess they felt I’d either work it out or end up in jail.”

  “Do you still go there?”

  “Sometimes. I do a lot of running,” he said. “That’s helped focus my energy, too.”

  “Sounds fun. Not the running, but the kick-boxing.”

  “We could go running together,” he suggested. “And I could show you a few self-defense moves if you want.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe,” she said nervously.

  Her passive side returned as she stared at her salad.

  “You said your parents didn’t really believe you about last night?” she asked as their meals were delivered.

  “My dad did a little. He knew of some people from work who were sick, and he said that a couple of them have died. But my mom said she figured Caleb was on drugs or some sort of pharmaceuticals for depression.”