Harper threw the kids’ clothes into the washing machine, then headed to the bedroom to grab the Mossberg, slung it over her shoulder, and returned to the kitchen. She opened the patio door. “Maddie? Becca? Come here a sec please.”
The kids all froze, staring at her. Following a brief pause, Madison and her friend walked over.
“What?” asked Madison.
Harper motioned for them to step inside. “I need you two to come with me real quick.”
Becca’s eyes widened. “I didn’t do it.”
“No, this isn’t bad.” Harper laughed. “Just a little walk to the med center.”
“I feel fine.” Madison folded her arms.
“So do I.” Becca tucked a lock of her yellow-blonde hair behind her ear. “And shouldn’t my parents be taking me?”
“Please? It’s nothing medical. I promise you guys will thank me.”
Becca fidgeted.
Madison huffed. “Okay. Fine.”
“They’ll be back in a little while,” called Harper.
Mila, Jonathan, and Christopher resumed playing Frisbee.
The girls followed Harper out the front door, constantly giving her suspicious glances. She led them down Hilltop out to 74, hung a right turn, and walked to the med center, barely able to contain her excitement.
Ruby waved from the counter as they entered. “Morning, girls. Everything okay?”
“Yep.” Harper crossed the room. “How’s things here?”
“Good, good.” Ruby smiled at the girls. “Are you two enjoying your first day off school?”
“Yeah.” Becca smiled.
“I don’t know yet.” Madison narrowed her eyes at Harper. “I’m waiting to see what sort of treachery awaits me.”
Harper cackled. “Come on.”
She headed down the hall to the patient room. Mrs. Parsons sat in a chair beside a bed containing Eva. The girl appeared happy despite being hooked up to an IV line. The pair of them also looked almost normal again, having cleaned up and been given new clothes. Of course, the girl remained far too thin, but not quite as bad as Lorelei had been upon her initial arrival in Evergreen.
Madison stopped short in the doorway. She looked at Eva, up at Harper, back to Eva, and burst into tears. Harper squeezed her shoulder.
“Oh-Em-Gee!” squealed Becca. She ran over to the bed.
At the outburst, Eva glanced toward them. “Maddie! Becca!”
Madison, still sobbing, sprinted to the bed, half climbing into it to hug her friend. A few minutes of happy crying soon became laughing and an explosion of three tweens talking, peppered with ‘Oh-em-gees’ and multiple squeals or gasps. Madison and Becca both fussed over Eva for being so skinny, and gushed at Mrs. Parsons for having a baby. The woman kept on a pleasant face and accepted their goodwill despite the circumstances of her pregnancy.
They’ll be occupied all day.
Harper walked over to Logan’s bed, leaning down to kiss him.
This, of course, set off a chorus of ‘ooohs’ from the girls.
“Heard you did something risky.” Logan grinned. “Your sister stopped by yesterday to inform me how unhappy she was that I didn’t stop you from leaving town.”
“Sorry. So, umm… how are you feeling?”
He squeezed her hand. “Still hurts when I breathe, but it’s gone down from ‘gah, holy effing crap’ to ‘ouch.’ Dr. Hale said I can probably go home next week, maybe as early as Wednesday.”
“Nope.” Harper shook her head. “You’re gonna stay with us until you’re back to normal. I don’t think three other guys from the farm will be too interested in looking after you.”
Logan shrugged his right shoulder, not moving the injured side. “I’m not one of those guys who gets a cold and acts like he’s dying.”
“So you’re the type of guy who gets shot in the lung and plugs it with bubble gum thinking you don’t need a doctor?”
He laughed. “Not quite that bad, but yeah. That’s closer to the truth. I can manage.”
“I don’t want you to ‘manage.’ I want you to get better. If you try to do everything yourself, you’re going to take forever to mend.”
“Okay, okay. Fine. But Troy, Ed, and Juan are going to be heartbroken I’m not there.”
“Totally.” She faked a serious face.
They looked at each other for a moment, then cracked up.
“Do you think this is going to work?” She fidgeted her thumb across the back of his hand.
“Are you asking me about us working, Evergreen working, whether or not humanity will rise from the ashes… or me recovering at your place?”
She blushed a little. “Mostly option two but some option one. I’m not sure what I’m doing since I’ve never like been in love with anyone before.”
“Never?”
“No. I mean… there have been boyfriends before, but I never felt like losing them would be the worst thing in the world.”
“Wow. But none of them got shot after a nuclear war though.”
“Don’t be a jackass.” She poked him. “Do you think we’ll have a future together? And I mean us as well as this town. So many things could go so wrong, I can’t even figure out which ones to worry about.”
Logan pulled her hand up and kissed her knuckles. “Well, I can say for sure we won’t have nukes fall from the sky again in our lifetime.”
She laughed despite shedding tears. “I said don’t be a jackass.”
“Hmm. Was that a laugh I just heard?”
“Yeah.”
Harper lifted her gaze off the floor to meet his, speaking in a whisper so Madison didn’t hear. “The other day when those two guys started shooting at Marcie, one of them was this guy Scott who used to work at the Starbucks we always went to. He didn’t seem to recognize me at first. I’d seen him three or four times a week for like two years. And there he was with a gun, maybe even shooting at me.”
“Maybe?” Logan tilted his head. “How can someone shoot at you and you not know if they did?”
“They’d gotten inside a house, and fired at us from a window. Too dark to see anything inside and I had been ducked down behind a tree at the time. He missed.”
“Obviously.” Logan squeezed her hand, worry radiating from his eyes. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Good. That makes two of us. I really don’t want anything to happen to me either.”
“Jackass.” He winked.
“You started it.” She stuck out her tongue.
“So mature.”
She raspberried him.
“It’s not really surprising.” Logan grimaced while shifting his weight. “That guy had to see thousands of people every day. Easy for faces to blend into each other. Different for you because he’d always been the one behind the counter.”
“Well, he did say ‘skinny mocha’ right before Roy shot him. I think he might have been willing to surrender, but they didn’t give him the chance.” Harper sighed. “But, for all I know, he could have shot me anyway. What happened to people?”
“The guy probably snapped. The hockey team was on the road stupid early that day. We left the hotel like ten minutes before we saw the first nuke light up the sky. The driver slammed on the brakes and cut off the road to put us under an overpass. Might’ve been the only reason we made it. We all huddled there in the bus for hours, dreading the instant any of us moved, another explosion would go off. It took me a while to believe it really happened.” Logan let his head fall back on the pillow, staring at the ceiling. “I lost my parents and little sister. Might have lost my older brother and sister, too. I still don’t know. Might never know. Every day I wonder how I didn’t just say screw it and give up.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
He brushed a hand over her cheek. “You had Maddie to protect. I didn’t. Just me. None of us on that bus had any hope our families in Springs survived. But, I dunno. We still had each other and this silent ‘we have to survive’ team mentality t
ook over. Even Zach and Kirk stopped with the Mexican crap until we got to Evergreen. Guess this place made them feel safe again.”
“Maybe. We’re like in a nowhere world between terrifying danger and any ordinary day.” She exhaled. “I really hope we live to see a day where things are kinda back to civilization. Why are there so many lunatics?”
“People are wired differently. Maybe that Scott guy had a wife or kids or something and he couldn’t handle losing them. Maybe he just had cats or even suffered a psychotic break over losing access to WoW.”
“Huh?”
“It’s an online game. Players can be really addicted.” Logan shrugged. “Trying to make a joke.”
“Sorry. I played some games, but not all that many. I used to read more than anything.”
He raised both eyebrows. “So, I’m dating the smart girl? Cool.”
“What if I snap?” Harper paused, glancing over at the tweens sitting cross-legged in a circle on Eva’s bed, chattering away like they used to do. “I don’t know how much longer it will be for me before I do. I’ve killed people. Four more yesterday. And it’s freaking me the hell out that it’s not freaking me the hell out. Have I already snapped?”
“You seem fine to me. Lawless?”
“Three. One was…” She shuddered. “Some poor guy with bad radiation poisoning.”
Logan grunted from the pain of sitting up. He pulled her close, cradling her head to his shoulder. “Please tell me you didn’t get irradiated by something out there. I can’t lose you. Not after I’ve lost everyone else I’ve ever cared about.”
“No… I’m okay. He must have been wandering.” She hugged him back, choked up at the vulnerability in his voice. “Now, lay back before you rip open your stitches.”
He relaxed, and let her ease him back down. “Tell me what happened?”
“Okay.” Harper twisted a lock of hair around her finger continuously while explaining everything about the trip.
He scowled off to the side when she mentioned the three guys grabbing her. “They got what they deserved.”
“It’s bothering me to think that I’m less dangerous to a random bug in the house than I am to people.”
“That bug in the house didn’t attack you. It’s just being a bug, doing bug things… not wanting to hurt anyone. Now if you ran into a scorpion trying to sting you and stepped on it, that would be entirely different.”
“She’d still try to save it,” called Madison from across the room.
Becca and Eva laughed.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Harper let out a long breath. “So… assuming I don’t have a mental breakdown in my future, how do you feel about us?”
“How do I feel about you? Or us. Hmm. I’ve been thinking about it a lot since I have so much time in here to do nothing but think about stuff.” He beckoned her closer with a finger, whispering, “This isn’t for little ears.”
Harper smirked, but leaned closer.
“This is how I feel about us,” he whispered, before sitting up and kissing her.
Not wanting him to strain his injury, Harper pushed him back down, but didn’t stop kissing him.
A chorus of “awws” came from the girls.
Harper muffled a laugh into Logan’s shoulder.
He patted her on the back of the head. “I think we’re gonna be okay… as soon as these damn stitches come out.”
29
Schrodinger's Normal
The ghost of dinner hung in the air as a fragrance, faintly meaty with hints of onion. Harper stood at the sink doing the dishes, occasionally glancing out the window at the kids playing in the yard. Madison and Becca wanted to return to the med center after eating, but reluctantly accepted that Eva needed some quiet time.
She suspected the dinner Cliff cooked had been made with something other than the chicken he claimed it to be, potentially rabbit or squirrel meat. It didn’t taste quite like chicken, but she didn’t mind the flavor. Even though Madison largely abandoned vegetarianism in the interest of not starving, she would probably have still objected to eating bunnies or squirrels. While the girl didn’t only want to save the ‘cute and fuzzy’ animals, her degree of upset at people hurting animals grew according to the cuteness of said animal.
I’m kinda glad he didn’t tell us what we ate. As long as it’s not cat or dog, I’m okay with it if I don’t have to picture the poor critter. Oh, ick. It might’ve been frog. She chuckled to herself thinking that Madison would have been bothered by frog meat less than either squirrel or rabbit.
Regardless of what they’d had for dinner, Harper smiled at Cliff going next door to spend time with Carrie alone. Though the electricity had been stable all day, she sincerely doubted they planned to watch movies.
Though it hadn’t started to get dark out, the sun burrowed itself deep into a thick wall of clouds in the west. A hint of wood smoke carried on the breeze, likely from cook fires going on in the southern parts of town where electricity hadn’t yet reached. Outside, the orangey light cast everything in a surreal glow, dim enough that her reflection appeared on the window.
The young woman gazing back at her wasn’t entirely Harper Cody. The girl had the same red hair, same general features, but her blue eyes didn’t hold a sense of perpetual shy anxiety. Her jaw had a firmer set, chin higher, more confident. She no longer looked like the sort of person who would quietly walk the other way to avoid a loud or uncomfortable situation. Mom and Dad probably wouldn’t even recognize her at first.
But… she also looked happy. Or if not happy, at least content.
Maybe I’m not as messed up as I thought.
Once she finished cleaning the dishes, Harper headed to the living room and picked up the cursed book, The Secret Garden. She considered it jinxed because every time she tried to read it, something interrupted her. She flopped on the sofa, held the book up in front of her, and stared a challenge at it.
“I don’t care if it’s one paragraph a day, the only way to break your curse is to finish you. Game on.”
A pleasant two-ish hours allowed her to make a good deal of progress before the kids spilled inside. They clustered around the television to use the PlayStation, taking advantage of it before the town’s power grid breathed its last gasp or the system itself crapped out. Jonathan found a few other titles installed that worked without an online connection. Tonight, they took turns with a racing game involving flying hover-glider type vehicles in a futuristic city.
Harper kept reading, not wanting to look at the science fiction scenery. The idea of a reliable working car and grocery stores felt like they’d become luxuries of an impossible future, forget flying cars and cyborgs.
The kids rotated turns. When Becca and Mila had the controls, Jonathan and Madison decided to do a few dance stretches. Lorelei, not terribly interested in the video game at all, played with her dolls on the sofa beside Harper.
“Why are you guys bothering with that?” asked Becca. “No one cares about dancing anymore.”
Madison reached up with both hands and grasped her right foot which hovered over her head, her leg up behind her back. “I did dance because it’s fun. Never wanted to become a pro. It’s exercise and I liked doing it.”
“But we play outside all the time now. We don’t have to go to dance class or gymnastics to get exercise.” Becca reached up and tickled Madison’s defenseless stomach.
Squealing, Madison lost her grip on her foot—nearly kicked Jonathan in the head—and fell seated on the floor, laughing. “We’re not outside right now. And, again, I like doing it.” She stood again and pulled her other leg up behind her.
Jonathan copied the maneuver. Harper cringed at the sight of a boy stretching like that. It somehow just didn’t seem right, or comfortable—or possible.
“When’s Eva gonna leave the hospital?” asked Becca.
“Soon. Maybe even tomorrow.” Madison grinned. “She’s not sick, just hasn’t had enough food.”
“Nice.” Becca grin
ned.
“Not having food is bad.” Lorelei shook her head hard. “People shouldn’t do that.”
“What about Melissa?” asked Becca.
Madison glanced at Harper, her smile fading. “I dunno. Ask Harp.”
Becca paused the game.
“Ack!” yelled Mila.
“Sorry.” Becca twisted around with an expectant look.
Harper stuck the folded paper back in the book and closed it. “I didn’t see Melissa at the Army camp. She’s probably at another one.”
Madison’s mood crashed. She lowered her foot to the floor and stared down. “Do you think the gang got her?”
“No,” answered Harper without hesitation. “Most of the people who lived around us evacuated fast… within a couple days of the attack. Those idiots didn’t show up for two months.”
“Yeah. We were kinda dumb.” Madison sighed, her mood improving from sorrow to blah. After standing there for a second or two, she ran over and curled up beside her on the couch, leaning her head on Harper’s shoulder. “We should’ve left. Is it okay if I’m mad at Dad for making us stay?”
Harper brushed her sister’s hair with her fingers. “Yeah. It’s okay. I’m sure if ghosts are real, he’d be angry with himself for deciding to stay, too. But… I’m sure he’d be happy we’re okay.”
“Yeah.” Madison clung tighter to her arm. “I’m not mad at you anymore for going to the Army camp.”
“Good.” Harper kept stroking her hair.
“Now I’m mad at you for not telling me you found Eva as soon as you got back.” Madison stuck her tongue out, but the gesture seemed more playful than anything.
The Lucky Ones (Evergreen Book 3) Page 26