After the End (10 page)

"We had a house in the Hamptons so I went there every summer, but there were plenty of bonfires on the beach. However, I'm afraid I've never heard that song. Do you know 'Alice the Camel'?"

"Oh my God. Things are surreal enough without the singing. Please no more," Derrick begged as Mrs. Scheider started singing.

But the three women and Ronnie carried on until they reached the "boom, boom, boom" part of the song.

"Hey," Joe called from by the window. "Keep it a little quieter, okay?"

Awareness of the danger they were in washed over them like a bucket of water putting out their campfire. Their laughter died and they fell silent. Lila could see Ronnie crumbling, her little face scrunched up as if she might cry again.

"Hey, Ronnie. What grade are you in?" Lila tried to distract her.

"Third."

"What's your teacher's name? Do you like her?"

"Ms. Tanoff. She's okay." The girl put her chin in her hands and stared at the lantern, her chin trembling.

"I remember third grade. Mrs. Baumbottom. We used to call her Big Bottom." Lila dredged up a story from her childhood to entertain the girl. "Once I drew a cartoon of her with her big bottom sticking out behind her. The kids were passing it around. Can you guess what happened?"

Ronnie's eyes widened. "She got it."

"That's right. One kid was passing it to another when she intercepted it. The picture didn't seem so funny any more. I was scared to get in trouble, but also felt really bad about hurting her feelings."

"What happened?" Ronnie gasped, caught up in the dramatic tension as only a young child could be. "Did you get detention?"

"Well, she'd taken the drawing from Brian Stevens and at first I thought she was going to blame him. I'd have to tell the truth so he wouldn't get into trouble. But Mrs. Baumbottom looked at that picture and then straight at me. She knew my drawing from art work I'd done. Since my name wasn't on it, there was no proof it was mine. I kept my mouth shut and looked away."

"What'd she do then?"

"She had the whole class write a page about how they felt when someone made fun of them."

"You got off lucky." Derrick toyed with the zipper of his sleeping bag, drawing it up and down. "Bet the other kids were pissed at you for making them extra work."

"I don't know if I'd call it lucky. I felt almost sick with guilt while I was writing my paper. Later I went to the bathroom and cried my eyes out."

"Soft heart." Ari lay on his stomach on his bedroll with his head propped on one hand. "I did a helluva lot worse things when I was a kid, and I didn't feel sorry about them. I would've been the kid putting a tack on Big Bottom's chair for her to sit on. Me and my boys were kind of rough."

Lila could picture a gang of pint size thugs running around terrorizing the schoolyard and the neighborhood. It sounded like Ari's life had been a world away from her peaceful suburban childhood. She smiled at him. "So tell us something you did."

"I did a lot of dumb shit. Got in a lot of trouble. But a story the kid can hear? Let me think." He considered for a moment. "How about an embarrassing story? Once when I was in fifth grade I wanted to impress this girl at a party so I ate a whole can of Cheez Whiz, straight from the can down the gullet. Why I thought she'd think that was cool, I have no idea. I was ten. Chased it with a full can of Mountain Dew. After that I felt like I needed to burp, but when I did..."

"Oh no, man!" Derrick hooted. "No way."

"Yeah. Not only did I puke in front of everybody but it splashed on the girl I had the crush on. I impressed her all right."

"Sick." Derrick rolled on the raft, laughing.

"Boys are a whole different species from girls, aren't they?" Lila asked Ann. "And they don't get much better when they're older from what I can tell."

"They try to impress you with money instead of Cheez Whiz," Mrs. Scheider said dryly. "And the result is a great deal messier than a little vomit. My late husband splashed plenty of the fallout from his failed financial schemes on me."

All eyes turned to her as everyone waited for more explanation, but she refocused her attention on her book.

Lila prompted Ann. "We haven't heard from you. What childhood story do you have to share?"

Ann pushed strands of her blonde hair back from her face. "Nothing to top that, but there was a time I was embarrassed--not by something I did to myself but by something that happened to me. The summer before freshmen year our family suffered some…setbacks and my mom had to give up the lease on her car. She bought an old minivan to replace it, saying it was a better way to transport kids anyway. I was humiliated when she insisted on dropping me off at school in the thing. I wanted her to let me out a block away, but she wouldn't. She had to park right in front where everyone could see us."

Derrick grunted in agreement about how embarrassing parents could be.

"So there I was, a brand new freshman, terrified about fitting in at high school and forced to ride in my mom's ghetto van. One morning I got out and slid the door back and it just kept going, right off the track. The door literally fell off the van. Everybody waiting to go into school looked and laughed. I thought I'd sink into the earth I was so humiliated. It was the perfect way to start high school."

"Damn, I thought I'd done some embarrassing things," Derrick said. "You people are like the masters of making asses of yourselves."

"That van was not my fault," Ann protested in an almost serious tone that made Lila smile. Ghosts of embarrassments past were hard to kill. "How about you, Derrick? What's your worst moment?"

The boy flushed bright red. "Nothing. I don't have one."

"Yes you do," Ronnie shoved him in the shoulder. "What about the time Grandma came to visit and walked into your bedroom and caught you--"

"Shut UP!" He punched her shoulder much harder than she'd hit him and the girl let out a piercing shriek.

"Children, behave," Mrs. Scheider said.

"Quiet!" Joe strode over from his lookout by the window to glare at them all. "This isn't a pajama party. The last thing we want to do is draw attention. In fact, you should probably douse the light and get some sleep. Ari, I'll take first watch and I'll wake you later."

It was the most Lila had heard from Dr. Morgenstern since their ordeal began. His fatherly tone served to quell both Ronnie and Derrick. The girl flounced onto her side, dragging the covers over her head. Sounds of sniffling came from beneath the butterfly patterned sleeping bag. Derrick muttered under his breath but settled down.

Mrs. Scheider turned off her reading light and marked her place in her book then went to her cot. Lila's mind was buzzing and she was sure she wouldn't be able to sleep. Ari seemed relieved to take orders for a change. He turned the lamp as low as it would go then stretched out on top of his sleeping bag cushioned by an air mattress.

Lila felt him breathing in the dark beside her. She glanced over, but it was too shadowy to make out more than his general shape. Still she was very aware of his presence. Her body responded to it with a primitive pull. Their two bedrolls were side by side and she longed to shift closer until they were touching. She wouldn't mind if he rolled over and put his arms around her in his sleep. Wasn't that the way every road trip romantic comedy went? But this was hardly a comedy and in horror movies usually one of the protagonists ended up dead.

All the horrific images of the day tumbled through her mind as she lay alone in the dark, adrenaline still zinging through her veins. Tears spilled from her eyes, trickling down her cheeks and into her ears. She impatiently rubbed her face dry. She didn't want to disturb the others by sniffling like Ronnie, and she was too tired to drag herself to the back room of the store for some privacy.

"Are you okay?" Ari's voice floated through the air.

"Yeah," she croaked. "I'm fine."

"We'll find a way out of the city tomorrow somehow," he promised.

"Sure." But she didn't feel confident things would be any better in the outside world. She wondered how her parents were doing, and her friends and Doyle. He'd sounded terrified when she'd talked to him on the phone. Was he even still alive? She'd give anything to be with people she loved instead of this group of strangers. But on the other hand, she felt safer with Ari than she would have with Doyle, who tended to talk all around a decision before finally making it. The situation they were in didn't leave room for second guessing or wavering. She felt surprisingly close to Ari even though she didn't know much about him at all.

"Before we go to the marina I want to stop by St. Andrews and try to find my mom," Ari said.

She didn't know how to respond. Everyone wanted to locate their relatives, but the hospital seemed like the last place they should go after what Doyle had described. "I don't think that's such a good idea," she said gently. "From what my ex said, it's zombie central there. As harsh as it seems, I don't believe we can run around the city checking on everyone's family. We need to get our group someplace safe."

Ari didn't say anything for a few minutes and she was afraid she'd pissed him off. Lila reached out and touched his arm. "I'm sorry, but that's what I think. All we can do is pray and hope our loved ones make it someplace safe, too."

He exhaled. "You're right. My mom might not even be at the hospital anymore. She could be anywhere. But to cut her loose like that feels so wrong. It's been the two of us ever since my dad left years ago. I've always looked out for her."

Lila slid her hand down his arm to hold his hand. "I get it."

His voice lowered to a whisper so soft she could scarcely hear it. "I wish I could go where I want and didn't have to worry about all these people, you know? I don't know how they got to be my responsibility. I'm no leader."

Lila turned to stare at his profile in the dark. Was he kidding? "Yes you are."

He shook his head. "I don't know what to do any more than anyone else does. Why do you all even keep listening to me?"

She smiled. "Because what you suggest makes sense and we all want to stay alive. But more than that. You
seem
confident and in this situation that's as important as knowing exactly what to do. Your confidence helps keep the rest of us from panicking."

He snorted. "I could be confidently leading you right over the edge of a cliff. Would that make me a good leader?"

 "Sorry, Ari, you'd still be a leader—just not a smart one. You can't deny your nature. There are those who lead and those who follow and you're the former."

"That's a lot of insight coming from someone who doesn't even know me," he muttered.

They fell silent then, lying with their hands linked in the darkness. Lila stared at the shadows cast by sporting goods displays, the cardboard cutout of a grinning fisherman with a custom grip pole, shelving full of soccer and running shoes, baseball cleats and ski boots. What kid didn't fantasize about getting locked into a store and having the run of the place for a night? If this were some kid's movie, they'd be skateboarding up and down the aisles and shooting paintball guns at each other, having the time of their lives set against a pop soundtrack. She choked back her laughter with a snort.

"What?" Ari's sexy, low voice floated to her again.

"Nothing. Nerves. I'm just getting a little giddy."

"You should sleep. We all need to sleep—put this out of our heads for a while."

"It would be easier to fall asleep if you two would be quiet," Mrs. Scheider's crisp tone cut across their whispering.

"Night, Mrs. Scheider," Lila chanted like a Walton child, laughter still trembling in her voice.

Ari chuckled, the sound as warm and comforting as a cup of hot cocoa heating her insides. Lila crushed the attraction that had been nibbling at the edge of her consciousness all day. She was sure it had more to do with their extreme situation than actual feelings. A person would cling to any flotsam after a shipwreck.

"Good night," she murmured to Ari, then pulled her hand from his and turned over on her side. She had barely enough time to think that she'd never be able to fall asleep before oblivion claimed her.

Someone pounding on the door of the store, snapped her awake. Lila sat bolt upright, head whirling, heart pumping and legs ready to run. She blinked away her disorientation and focused on Joe going to open the door. Her first irrational thought was that he'd gone crazy and was about to let the zombies in to feast on them. Ari jumped up from his sleeping bag and ran toward the door. Lila scrambled to her feet and the others did the same. Ronnie whimpered and Derrick shushed her. Lila bent to search for her weapon by her bedding.

Joe opened the door and several people hurried into the store, all of them dark, featureless shapes.

"They're everywhere out there. Jesus Christ! We were lucky to make it here alive." Lila recognized Deb's smoke-roughened voice and relief rushed through her.

"Did any zombies see you?" Ari locked the door behind the newcomers, while Joe peered out the window to make sure they hadn't been followed.

"No. I don't think so, or they would've been on us." Deb leaned her rifle against the wall. "I'm sorry. I didn't know where else to go."

Lila turned up the kerosene lamp then joined the group at the door, grabbing Deb and giving her a hug. "I'm so glad to see you. This must be Julie."

"Pleased to meet you," the redhead greeted her and indicated the man with them. "This is Carl. He works with me at Quantus."

Carl was a tall, thin, dark skinned man with slightly bulging eyes and a receding hairline. He nodded. "Hi."

"It's getting worse out there," Deb said. "It's almost like a second wave is going through. The things are everywhere."

Lila shivered. She'd begun to feel a false sense of security here in this place they'd claimed as their own. It had been too easy to convince themselves the zombies had passed on to another part of the city, leaving a ghost town behind. But Deb was trembling and the others looked equally shell-shocked.

"Come and sit down." She led them to the camp site.