Break Free The Night (Book 1) (2 page)

              Kaylee furrowed her brow and scrunched up her face at the thought.

              Not now, Kaylee.

             
“
Is Andrew up yet
?”
Emma asked, now flinging bowls and spoons without care onto the table in the center of the room.

             
“
He might be now, with all that racket yo
u’
re making
,”
their father answered, frowning. Emma shrugged and traipsed off to the storage room.

              Andrew McCormick and his father Bill had also been neighbors from the high-rise. Kaylee had practically grown up with Andrew. He had always been a rounder sort of boy, though the lack of food had seen to that and now his clothing very nearly hung off him. The decreased sustenance had not shortened him however, he was taller than ever and his blond hair had grown into his eyes due to his reluctance to let Kaylee near him with a pair of scissors. Throughout the years, they had shared the same classes, went to the same parties, exchanged gifts on Christmas and birthdays. He was her best friend then and he still was now.

             
“
Morning, Kay
.”
Andre
w’
s sleepy voice rumbled out of him, his tone still scratchy from his day of sleep. His father trailed behind looking disgruntled and irritated as usual. Kaylee looked up from the cook fire to beam at Andrew.

             
“
Morning, Drew
!
”

             
“
Was that your lovely homemaking skills that woke us this morning, or was that your sister
?
”

              Kaylee opened her mouth to answer but was beaten by Emma who had just bounced back into the room holding a jug of maple syrup
.“
That was me you ass, and you better have meant that compliment sincerely or you wo
n’
t be getting any syrup
!
”

             
“
Like you could keep me from it
,”
Andrew teased, yanking the syrup from her hands and holding it over his head. Emma grit her teeth and punched him in the arm, though it did
n’
t appear to have the effect she had intended. Andrew merely laughed and pulled out a chair, pouring some of his stolen syrup over the oatmeal that Kaylee had just served him.

              Neither father had said a word during the exchange. Bill was looking out the window, his arm propped up against the frame and his nose touching the glass. The window had fogged some due to his breathing and he wiped the glass clean as he turned away.

             
“
Still finding food
,”
he said, shaking his head as he pulled out a chair next to his son.

             
“
The
y’
re not exactly picky
,”
Kayle
e’
s father Nick answered, now eating a lumpy portion of oatmeal
.“
The girls say w
e’
re low on supplies again. We need to go shopping
.
”

             
“
Shopping
,”
Bill snorted
,“
yeah
.
”

             
“
The market on eighth was still fairly stocked with dry goods last time we were there
,”
Andrew added to the conversation, oatmeal dripping from his spoon unto his shirt. Kaylee smiled and handed him a towel. She rolled her eyes at his confused expression and nodded towards his chest. Andrew wiped the gunk away with a sheepish grin.

             
“
W
e’
re wiping the stores clean out
,”
Bill grumbled
.“
Have
n’
t seen a can of beans, coffee, soda in over six months. The res
t’
s not going to last forever
.
”

             
“
Bill, w
e’
ve talked about this
,”
Nick said, a stern tone that had
n’
t been present moments ago accenting his voice. Nic
k’
s eyes drifted over to Kaylee and Emma before his expression faltered
.“
Le
t’
s try eighth and w
e’
ll talk again when we get home
.”
Bill grit his teeth, frowned, and did
n’
t speak again.

              Andrew caught Kayle
e’
s eye, nodded at his father and shook his head. They both knew why Andre
w’
s dad was upset. He wanted to leave. He had been trying to convince Nick for months now that staying locked up in the fire station was
n’
t a good long-term plan. And from everything Kaylee overheard, from both Bill and Anna, she agreed. They had some crops growing, and a collection container for rainwater. Andrew had even re-fashioned an old van he dragged into the garage into a dehydrator, useful for drying and preserving fruit slices or the occasional jerky. They had restructured some old piping from the roof to the bathroom so they did have what could be termed a
s‘
running water
.’
They had access to medical supplies and medicine from the pharmacies that they broke into. They even had a halfway decent generator for the really cold winter months. But Bill was right, it was
n’
t going to last forever. If this truly were the end of all things, they would have to find a way to do this all on their own.

              And none of that could happen if they could
n’
t get clear of the infected.

              But was anywhere really clear of the infected? There had been billions of people affected. And no one uninfected person had come across the group in over a year. Was there anyone else out there?

              Kaylee knew that Anna thought so.

             
“
How could we be the only ones
?”
she had once said, taking a break from pouring over the medical texts that were always scattered around her room
.“
Just us from this little city, stuck here with nothing but infected and no knowledge of any cure? I just do
n’
t believe i
t’
s statistically possible
.”
She had recited her theories again and again, insisting they would find
someone
out there.

              But so far, no one had come.

             
“
Okay
,”
Nick said, drawing the group
s’
attention. Anna had just skidded around the corner and tossed each of them their individual vitamin sorter. Kaylee popped open the Monday pocket. She did
n’
t know if it really even was Monday, but Anna had just newly filled them and so it was a logical place to start. She swallowed the handful. Emma had her nose wrinkled, eyeing the protein supplement; it was a big pill. Anna smiled at Emma as she swallowed it and Emma made a face
.“
Tonight Bill, Andrew, and I will be going shopping. Anna, we can hit that pharmacy on sixth if you think there could be anything worthwhile left. The girls will be doing any washing, so please get your things to them
.
”

              The group nodded and grunted their understanding. Bill left the table with a muttere
d“
Thanks for breakfast
,”
before trudging across the hall to get his boots.

             
“
Just give me a minute to get this down. I
t’
d be good to take a look
,”
Anna said, smiling at Nick as she gestured to the bowl of oatmeal she snagged from the center of the table
.“
I tell you, what I would
n’
t give for some brown sugar
!”
Kaylee grinned and mouthe
d“
Me too
,”
from across the room.

             
“
We have some time, sun has
n’
t set yet
,”
Nick said softly, gazing out the window. He got up from his seat and crossed to the living room. Kaylee knew h
e’
d be at the window, watching a very particular street. She sighed.

              It was
n’
t a great life. But still, they were surviving. 

Chapter Two

             
A few years ago Kaylee would have been insulted at being put t
o‘
wome
n’
s work
.’
She was capable of far more than washing, cooking, and cleaning and she knew it. But she now understood why that had been deemed wome
n’
s work in the days of old. She simply could
n’
t carry the tons of dirt that Andrew could. She could
n’
t till the soil as much as her father did. And she could
n’
t operate, let alone maintain, the heavy machinery that Bill was always swinging about to fix the structural problems in the fire station. If she had wen
t‘
shoppin
g’
with the rest, they would have had to carry more because neither she, nor Emma, nor Anna could haul the containers from the distant stores to the firehouse and up the rope ladder.

              And her wome
n’
s work was
n’
t as easy as she had initially thought it would be. There were no refrigerators or ovens, no vacuums, no washing machines. Every bit of cooking was done from scratch and cooked over open flames. She now knew how to skin any animal that Anna or Bill got lucky enough to shoot from the rooftop before one of the infected ate them. And though the geese and ducks from the ponds in the park across the street had been eaten up long ago, pigeons, warblers, sparrows, and a variety of other inland birds were still plentiful. They were nearly impossible to shoot, and shooting them would have destroyed much of the meat anyway, but Andrew and his father had fashioned a dozen traps and nets along buildings throughout the city that worked pretty well. She had learned, from the books that Anna scavenged from the library, how to can and preserve food. She scrubbed the bathroom and kitchen with what little cleanser they had. And she washed, hung, and folded each article of clothing by hand.

             
“
Andrew really is a messy eater
.
”

             
“
Hmm
?”
Kayle
e’
s train of thought was broken by Emm
a’
s grumbling and she squinted to see her siste
r’
s outline against the setting sun.

             
“
Look at this shirt
,”
she demanded, yanking a sopping wet and soapy shirt out of the tub she was using to wash it in
.“
When was the last time we even had mustard? I feel like everything he owns is a personal challenge to the both of us
.
”

              Kaylee laughed. A few years back she would never have guessed her best girlfriend when she turned seventeen would be her bratty, younger sister. But she was glad that she was.

             
“
He is a slob
,”
Kaylee agreed
.“
Should I tell him, or do you want to
?
”

             
“
He wo
n’
t listen if I say anything anyway, better be you
.
”

              Kaylee snorted
.“
You think he listens to me
?
”

             
“
Please
,”
Emma scoffed
.“
H
e’
s practically in love with you, h
e’
d eat his own hand if you told him to
.”
Kaylee rolled her eyes and rinsed the shirt she had been scrubbing free of soap.

             
“
You're ridiculous
,”
she muttered, though she was
n’
t entirely convinced Emma was wrong. Kaylee had always had the nagging suspicion that Andrew had feelings for her. Back when they were in school together she had been teased about it constantly. And she had thought, years back, that she could try to like him too, because after all, in every good romantic movie or book, was
n’
t the girl always falling for the idiot only to realize she really loved her best friend? But she had tried over time and she never seemed able to muster those kinds of feelings for him. She loved him, she really did. But even now, when it was just they stuck in an old three-story fire station together, she still could
n’
t imagine that feeling taking her the distance she would need to go for a romantic relationship.

             
“
You think Mr. McCormick will convince Dad to move us out of here
?”
Emma asked and Kaylee knew she was worried because her tone went soft and low and she kept her eyes on her washing instead of meeting Kayle
e’
s.

             
“
I do
n’
t know
,”
Kaylee replied carefully, squinting to see her sister through the darkening sky
.“
But h
e’
s right. We ca
n’
t stay here forever
.
”

             
“
I just ca
n’
t believe ther
e’
s no one else out there
,”
Emma continued, piling a new bunch of soiled clothing into her bucket and letting them soak
.“
I mean, what if w
e’
re it
?
”

             
“
W
e’
re not
.
”

              Emma did
n’
t answer, just plunged her hands into the soapy water and scrubbed the wet clothing. Kaylee rose and took her basket to the lines they left set up on the side of the roof. From there she could see their old apartment building; she could, by way of counting windows and floors, make out which room had been hers. They were so close to their real home and still so far, far away.

              Kaylee pulled each sodden, cold garment from her pile and rung them out before securing them to the clothesline. Behind her the sun was just a brilliant, orange sliver on the horizon and below her the cries and moans of the infected began to lessen. She paused in her work to watch over the rail. It had always amazed her that, just like children, when the sun went down, the infected fell immediately to sleep. No noise or movement woke them. She was reminded of a time when her father and mother would bring them home after a long day out. She would be falling asleep in the car and the next thing she knew: it was morning. Somehow she had gotten from the car, through a noisy lobby, up the elevator, and into her bed without ever waking up to remember it. Every time that happened she had been amazed, convinced her father could perform magic spells to get his girls safely to their beds.

But it was
n’
t magic that affected the people on the streets; it was disease.

              Kaylee blinked and tried to focus. If she looked really hard, she could find her mother. Or really, the shell of the person her mother had once been. Her father watched for her every afternoon, stood in the living room gazing out at the street Kaylee had grown up on, the street her mother seemed to still frequent. Kaylee would never forget the moment they had left her, though she forced the memory from her mind every time it invaded, angry and frustrated at the tears it produced. Now all that was left of her mother roamed the streets, bite marks and torn flesh marring her skin, her eyes unfocused, her gait unsteady. She moaned and shrieked and cried out like the rest. It was only as the sun set that Kaylee could stand to see her, even though the sight of her curled up into a gutter was heart wrenching.

             
“
Her
e’
s the last batch
,”
Emma said, grunting as she hauled the basket over to the lines. Kaylee nodded, suddenly exhausted, and backed away from the edge of the building.

              Sh
e’
s out there somewhere.
I’
ll find her tomorrow.

             
“
We can see to dinner after this
,”
she whispered. Emma nodded.

~

Dinner that night was a happier affair. Andrew had stuffed his pockets full of an assortment of candy and bags of chips from their raid on the market, a definite delicacy for their little group. And even though most of the chip bags had contents crushed to the consistency of dust, spirits were definitely lifted. It had made for a four star desert following the handful of dried cherries and vanilla health shake that had been dinner. Nick had even offered Bill a game of poker after dinner, something he had
n’
t done in a long time, and Bill happily accepted. And so now, with Andrew in the bath and Anna reading in her room, Kaylee and Emma trudged back to the roof with a stolen bag of M&
M’
s to take the laundry off the line.

             
“
Blue was a good decision. Did you know they used to have a tan color? Like a light brown? Bad marketing call in my opinion
.
”

             
“
What are you talking about
?”
Kaylee laughed, peering at her sister through the black as she pulled one of their fathe
r’
s shirts off the line and folded it into the basket.

             
“
The M&
M’
s. They got rid of the tan color and then put in the blue. I
t’
s better, do
n’
t you think
?”
Emma answered, squinting at her palm in the dim light from the propane lantern they left by the doorway. The candy she was squinting at hardly had any color left to it anyway, time eating away the molten red and bright blue until all the pieces looked the same: dusty white and pale grays with just the barest hint of color. She shrugged soon after and popped a handful of the candy into her mouth.

             
“
They taste the same anyway, you ca
n’
t tell the di
f
—”

             
“
Kay? You up here
?”
came a male voice from the stairs.

             
“
Ah good, lover boy is here
,”
Emma teased, jumping down from her perch on the low wall of the roof
.“
Now he can help you instead and I can go inside and bug Anna for some books. You mind
?
”

             
“
Not if Andrew does
n’
t. And do
n’
t call him that
!
”

             
“
What? Lover boy
?”
Emma asked in an overly theatric stage whisper that Kaylee was sure he overheard. Andrew peeked his head from doorway to the roof and grinned.

             
“
Mind if I break in
?”
he asked.

             
“
Break in all you like so long as you do my share of the folding
,”
Emma answered, stealing one last handful of the drab M&
M’
s before bouncing towards the stairs.

             
“
She acts like she was doing so much work. She was just sitting there expounding the merits of blue M&
M’
s versus light brown
,”
Kaylee snorted, standing with her hands on her hips and glaring in the direction of her sister.

             
“
Ah yeah, the tan ones right? They were awful
!”
Andrew said, coming up to the line of clothing and pulling down some pants to fold.