Hungry Independents (Book 2) (11 page)

“No, even better!”

Scout pulled out the shirt, holding it up to
his chest and grinning like he’d just found a tanker full of fresh
gasoline. “Can you believe it? What do you think? Awesome,
right?”

“Is that an army shirt?”

“What? No, it’s not an army shirt.” He turned
it around and inspected it, making sure he pulled the right one
out. The eagle patch stared him in the face. He smiled back and
returned the shirt to his chest. “It’s an official Class ‘A’ Boy
Scout shirt with an eagle patch.”

Raven looked unimpressed.

Scout held it out for her to inspect. He
shook the uniform to emphasize that this was a big deal. Scout’s
shoulders dropped when Raven didn’t take the bait. “I’ve been
looking for a Boy Scout uniform for five years now. I finally found
one.”

“That’s nice. I’m very happy for you,” Raven
said, brushing her dark hair in front of the mirror by the door.
“I’m ready to go.”

Scout refolded the Boy Scout shirt and placed
it back inside the bag.

“Let’s go.” He followed her out.

* * *

Talk on the street was loud and excited as
Scout and Raven moved to join in the celebration. What a fantastic
time to be in Independents. Not only were they surviving in a nice
clean town with plenty of food, but their community was also
thriving. This was the second child born in Independents, their
birthdays coming a little over a year apart, and who knew which
couple was going to have the next one. Scout would have laid money
on it being Hunter and Molly—if money had any value. Maybe he would
wager one of his fifty baseball gloves, but certainly not his Boy
Scout shirt.

He would have believed that he and Raven
could be the next proud parents in Independents, but his latest
conversation left him frustrated. Raven didn’t understand him at
all. Preoccupied, Scout rubbed his brow, totally missing Dylan
walking out to greet them.

“Whoa there, Preach. You have some big balls
showing up here.”

“Leave me alone, Dylan. I’m here to see
Ginger and the baby.”

“You mean the poor kid that’s going to grow
up without his father just like the rest of us? Only it didn’t have
to go down like that. But thanks to you, he’s just one more little
bastard in the bunch.”

“What’s he talking about, Scout?”

“Yeah, Preach. You might as well tell her
what’s up since she’s also to blame.”

Scout’s anger swelled close to the
breakpoint. He wanted to swing at Dylan so badly that his fists had
already clenched involuntarily, ready and willing. Beating up Dylan
would feel so good and so right that it scared him. Scout closed
his eyes, lowered his head, and said a silent prayer for mercy.

He opened his eyes and sought Billy among
Dylan’s crowd. The boy smirked at him. Scout knew exactly where he
had picked up that expression.

“Billy, you know that’s not the way things
went down. You were there. You know Jimmy did what he did to save
Hunter. You stood right next to Raven with tears in your eyes and
watched Jimmy drive away. I had nothing to do with it. His death
was his decision.”

“Hey, Preach. Leave the kid out of this. We
all know what you did.”

“Billy, please. I forgive you. Tell the
truth.”

“I said leave him be, Preach,” Dylan said,
and shoved Scout in the chest.

Scout stumbled to the ground, skinning his
hands across the cobbles. The impact shocked him—madness consumed
him. No prayers would be offered now. He sprang from the ground and
flew into Dylan, who stood like he never expected Scout to fight
back.

Scout led with a quick jab, popping him under
the left eye. Stunned, Dylan bent over. Scout should have stopped.
He grabbed Dylan’s shoulders and brought his knee up into the
staggering boy’s face. Dylan toppled backwards and his eyes rolled
white. No need for a ten count. The kid was out.

Three of Dylan’s friends rushed Scout and
tackled him. The blows came from every direction, but Scout clawed
and rabbit punched and bit whatever he could to strike back.

“Stop it! Get off of him!” Raven screamed,
coming over to help. Then she cried out, collapsing to the ground
with blood seeping from a cut across her forehead.

Scout went ballistic, beating whatever and
whoever so he could get to Raven.

Shouts interrupted the fight. Mark and Samuel
arrived, throwing Dylan’s friends off. They backed Scout’s
attackers away, releasing him so he could go to his girlfriend’s
aid.

Raven’s hand was pressed to her head to stem
the bleeding. She sat in the street, her eyes wide with shock and
confusion.

“Are you okay?” Scout asked.

She nodded and handed him a rock.

He gripped it so tight the edges bit into his
palm. He jumped up and turned on Dylan and his gang. “Who threw
this at her?”

Dylan was still stretched out on the ground.
The rest of his group refused to meet Scout’s eyes—all but one.

Billy smirked at Scout and nodded
slightly.

Scout dropped the rock and tore after the
kid. “You son of a bitch. I’ll kill you!”

Before he reached Billy, Mark wrapped him up
and carried him off, cursing and screaming across the street. Billy
continued smirking at him as Scout was forced upstairs to his
apartment.

Watching Ginger breastfeed his son amazed
Jimmy just as much now as it did when he was alive. Of course that
had been Vanessa, and Mark had been sitting right there, and Jimmy
hadn’t been invisible. Not that being invisible mattered now. The
baby was his son after all and Ginger was his girlfriend. Well, his
girlfriend when he’d been alive.

Catherine came up next to him and whispered,
“Close your mouth, silly.”

Breaking his gaze, Jimmy clapped his mouth
shut and regarded the little girl. Things looked different in
death—from Catherine’s pulsing yellow aura to Molly shining a
bright rosy pink. Jimmy looked at his own body and saw the floor
through it.

Activity had cooled in the maternity ward.
Ginger was busy bonding with James. Luis moved around the room
straightening up like he had another delivery scheduled for the
afternoon. Outside, the soft rumble of the generator supplied
energy to run the heat lamps and beeping heart monitor. Jimmy
remembered when he had laid on that same hospital bed and Luis
poked a tube through his chest to drain fluid and re-inflate his
lungs. Good times.

Vanessa departed to take care of her own
little one, but not before she made Molly promise to talk to her
soon. Catherine said they’d get together after dinner, and it
didn’t appear to please Vanessa that the little girl had invited
herself along, but she shrugged and left.

All that remained were Catherine and Molly
and their glowing auras. Molly fidgeted with the hem of her shirt
like she had a lot on her mind. “Can I speak with you in private,
Catherine?”

Catherine patted Ginger’s arm. “Are you going
to be okay for a bit?”

“I’m fine. Right, Luis?”

“You’re in perfect health,” Luis said. “They
don’t mention recoveries like this in my medical books. But they
also don’t mention divine intervention either.”

“Divine,” Catherine said, and winked at Luis.
“You say the sweetest things.” She kissed baby James on the head
and he cooed before returning to his food source. “We’ll be around
if you need us.”

Catherine followed Molly to the door then she
cleared her throat. Jimmy glanced up from his inspection of the
breastfeeding. Catherine motioned her head for him to follow before
she walked out and shut the door. Jimmy frowned—that was so
un-cool.

He glided over to the wall and held his
breath. Well, he didn’t actually hold anything but the action felt
better. He closed his eyes and continued the glide, tugging his way
through what no living person could possibly pass.

“You can stop now, silly.”

Jimmy opened his eyes. He’d almost hovered
through Molly, who looked as unnerved as he felt by the
situation.

“She can see me now?” Jimmy asked
Catherine.

“Yes,” Molly said.

Jimmy glided back a step and waved. “Hey,
Molly.”

“Hunter misses you terribly.”

Jimmy removed his hat and played with the
crease in the bill. Then he realized he’d been wearing a hat and
stopped all together. He replaced the hat and stared at the floor.
“I’ve missed him. Where is he?”

“Don’t worry. He’ll be back sometime.”

Jimmy smiled and caught Molly returning his
smile. “You shouldn’t tease the dead. We like to haunt, you
know?”

“How’s the whole dead thing working out?”
Catherine said. “Did you like the clouds? I find it too bright
myself. How are Father, J.C. and the Spirit?”

“Catherine!” Molly said, like the floor was
about to open up and swallow everyone standing there. “You
shouldn’t refer to the Holy Trinity that way.”

Catherine pinched Molly’s waist and Molly
spun from her reach. “I’m devout, Margaret. I said my prayers this
morning. What about you?”

“I was busy defending myself against
hellhounds.”

Catherine offered Molly a wicked grin. “I’m
still a virgin.”

Molly covered her mouth and gasped. Her eyes
widened in what looked like fear and then slowly melted into shame.
“I hadn’t even thought about that.”

For a dead guy, Jimmy felt awfully
uncomfortable. First the breastfeeding and now talk about his
little brother’s apparent sex life.

Molly dropped onto the yellow sofa in the
waiting room and her face fell into her hands.

“Ooh, muffins!” Catherine ran to the table
and shoved a muffin in her mouth, pocketed another, and poured
apple juice in a plastic cup. “Do you want one, Jimmy?” Crumbs shot
out of her mouth.

Jimmy shook his head, but couldn’t believe
how incredibly hungry he felt.

Catherine finished her muffin and brushed her
hands off on the front of her white T-shirt. “Sorry, didn’t mean to
bring up food. The hunger thing is the worst part about being a
ghost. Forget I mentioned it.”

“How do you know?”

“Oh, I’ve been dead lots of times, silly. So
has Margaret, right?” Catherine looked at Molly around Jimmy like
he was as solid as an oak tree.

“How could I have lost my virginity?” Molly
said through her hands. “An eternity of abstinence and then the
apocalypse comes and I’m giving it away without a second
thought.”

Catherine straightened and grinned at Jimmy.
“She was going to have to deal with this sooner or later.” Then the
girl and her yellow aura walked over and sat next to Molly and her
pink one. Jimmy stared at the muffins a moment longer.

“You didn’t give it away for nothing,
Margaret. I mean, really, you’ve been the saint of pregnancy
forever. Maybe He thought it was time for you to discover more
about your profession with a little on-the-job training.”

Molly raised her head, her face lined with
haggard creases. “Please don’t blaspheme to me, Catherine.”

“Look, what’s done is done. You might as well
get over it and have a little fun. What’s it like anyways?”

“Catherine, please!” Jimmy shouted. His son
started crying in the other room.

Catherine hopped up with her hands on her
hips and gave a stern expression. “Now see what you’ve done?”

“He heard me?”

“You’ve got a lot to learn, Mister.”

Jimmy glided next to the wall and held his
hand close to the white paint. He wanted to stick his head through
for a peek, but the overriding fear of getting stuck in the wall
won out. “So tell me.”

“You go first. What happened when you died?
Where’d you go? Who’d you see?”

Jimmy closed his eyes, surprised by the
darkness when he did. “I remember floating away from my body with
Ginger still holding me in the front seat of that truck. Then I
floated through the roof towards the sunshine. Next thing I knew I
woke up by a big tree with a shovel lying next to me. Every day I
woke up next to that tree and every day, for whatever reason, I dug
a grave, and in the evening I would lie down in the grave and go to
sleep only to wake up and do it all over again.”

Molly rose off the couch and stood next to
Catherine. “It’s happening, isn’t it?”

Catherine shushed her. “Let him finish. Keep
going, Jimmy.”

“Well, today I woke up early, still in the
grave, and I found Samuel by the tree looking down at me. I was
excited to see him, but then there was the light that I thought was
the rising sun. I followed Samuel and it turned out to be you two
all lit up next to my house.”

“You never passed on to Heaven?” Catherine
asked.

“I don’t think so.”

“And you didn’t see anyone?” Molly asked.

“Not until Samuel.”

The two glowing aura sisters left Jimmy out
of the look they shared.

“It was bound to happen sometime,” Catherine
said.

Molly wrung her hands together. “I didn’t
expect it to be this quick. I just woke up. I barely know what’s
going on around here much less the rest of the world. Why did He do
this to me?”

“He wouldn’t have kept you in the dark if it
didn’t serve His purpose. Trust in the Lord. Isn’t that what the
Bible says?”

“Proverbs 3, verse 5,” Margaret said.

Catherine smiled.

If Jimmy could grasp solid objects, he would
have shaken both of them out of their skins. “What is
happening?”

They both turned their heads toward him with
troubling, sad expressions.

Catherine answered. “Heaven’s closed.”

Jimmy’s gaze darted from the little one to
the big one, hoping Molly would be more specific. “What does that
mean?”

“It means…” Molly glanced at Catherine, who
nodded, and Molly sighed. “It means that the End Times are here and
the outcome will depend on us. It means there won’t be anymore help
from above, and whoever dies will have to wait until everything is
resolved.”