Quake (23 page)

    'Hey hey, Pizzaria! My bud!’

    'Quiet! Jeez!'

    'Hey, hey, don't have a cow. Anybody else around here?’

    'Don't ask so many questions. Just hurry up.'

    'I'm coming, I'm coming. Hey, don't rush me. I've been in better shape, you know. It's not every day I get the crap beat out of me.'

    Barbara heard Earl start pounding his way up the stairs. 'You got Banner with you?’

    'She's here.'

    'Good, good. Didn't see her. Or you either. Thought maybe something might've happened. Which'd be a real shame. Wouldn't want nothing happening to my old pals. You miss me?'

    'Sure.'

    'How'd you get yourselves a place?' Earl asked. From the sound of his voice, he had reached the balcony. 'Rent it? 'Cause knowing how fucking moral you and Banner are, you sure as hell didn't bust in.'

    Not bothering to answer, Pete stepped backward out of the doorway. A moment later, Earl strolled in. He grinned at Barbara. She felt her mouth drop open.

    'Greetings and salutations, Banner-babes.'

    'What happened to you?' she blurted.

    'You oughta know.'

    'We didn't do all that.'

    The right side of Earl's face was puffy and smudged with dark bruises - damage, she supposed, that had been by herself and Pete. But the hair above his left ear was down flat with dry blood. They hadn't done that to him. Nor were they responsible for his change of clothes. She was not sure what he'd been wearing before, but not this: so large that it hung down almost to his knees, the blue slacks that looked as if they might go with the suit of an obese executive, and brightly polished black leather dress shoes. Someone, probably Earl, had torn off the sleeves of the shirt so that his arms were bare to the shoulders. The shirt was unbuttoned, too, showing sweaty skin with bruises and scratches. Earl's huge, bulky slacks were cinched in around his waist with a striped necktie. The cuffs were rolled up. He had bare ankles above the fancy shoes.

    'Greetings, Heather,' he said. 'And who's this?'

    'Lee Nolan,' Lee said. 'I'm the manager of this facility.’

    'No kidding. Figured maybe you was Rambo.'

    'He's not amused,' Barbara said.

    Ignoring them, Lee looked at Pete. 'Anybody else out there?'

    'I don't think so.'

    'Check again, then shut the door.'

    When the door was shut, Lee got to his feet and faced Earl. He held the pistol low by his side. 'Tell us what's goin on out there,' he said.

    'What do you want to know?'

    Heather spoke up first. 'How did you find us?'

    'Just lucky, I guess. Heading for home, trying to stay out of trouble. And then I spotted you… You were like two blocks away. Knew it was you, though. You got yourself an unmistakable figure.'

    Heather blushed. 'Thanks,' she murmured. 'Think that was a compliment?' The red of her face darkened. Looking pleased with himself, Earl turned his attention to the others. 'Anyhow, I yelled. thought she heard me, but she kept on going like she didn't. So then I chased after her, and saw her go through the gate down there.'

    'What about the mob?' Lee asked. 'Huh?'

    'Was that you yelling "Porky"?' Heather asked. 'Me, all right,' Earl said. 'You dirty…'

    'Let's not get sidetracked, here,' Lee said. 'Heather reported that there's a group of marauders heading our way.'

    'A what?'

    'A wild mob,' Pete explained.

    'Rampaging,' Barbara added. 'Killing people.'

    'No kidding?' Earl asked.

    'It wasn't exactly a mob,' Heather said. 'I mean, there weren't that many.'

    'A dozen,' Lee reminded her. 'That's what you told us.’

    'Well, it seemed like a dozen. Maybe it wasn't that many.' Earl shrugged and made a face like someone faking perplexity. 'A wild mob of killers, huh? Only maybe just a few, but on a rampage?'

    'Pulling people out of cars,' Pete said.

    'Heather saw them raping and killing women,' Barbara added.

    Earl's face lit up. 'Raping, huh? And to think missed it, 'What did you see out there?' Lee asked. 'I didn't see nothing like that.'

    'I did,' Heather insisted. 'And some of them chased me but I ditched 'em.'

    'No kidding?' Earl asked. 'You sure about that? Looks to me like you was taking your sweet time, checking around under cars and stuff. What were you looking for?'

    'A cat. But that was after those guys…'

    'Hold it,' Lee broke in. 'I want to hear from Earl.'

    Earl shrugged. 'I didn't spot any mob, that's for sure. Not around here. There was a whole bunch of looting over on Pico. A few fights and stuff, too. saw some people who'd gotten themselves pounded pretty good - hey, you're looking at one.'

    'We didn't do that to you,' Barbara said.

    'Like hell.'

    'I punched you in the face a couple of time, same as you punched me.' She realized that she had pretty much forgot all about her injuries. Reminded now, she noticed that she had slight earache, probably from the punch in the jaw. She pressed her hand to her jaw. Not much swelling there. But the bulging skin over her cheekbone felt warm and tight.

    'Be grateful, Banner,' Earl said. 'I improved on your looks.'

    'Shut up,' Pete said.

    'Screw you.'

    'We didn't do that to your head,' Barbara told him. 'Not where your hair's all bloody there. That wasn't us. Maybe we should've, but we didn't.'

    'I suppose you didn't steal my stuff, either.'

    'We didn't steal anything. All we did was drag you out of the street so you wouldn't get run over.'

    'Yeah, sure. What you did is strip me.'

    'Did not.'

    'We didn't do anything like that,' Pete said.

    'Yeah, right.'

    Heather looked as if she had made an amazing recovery from her embarrassment. She was beaming. 'Somebody took your clothes?'

    'Yeah, and I know who.'

    'Not us,' Heather said. 'You've gotta be kidding. You pissed your jeans.'

    'Yeah, right.'

    'You did,' Barbara confirmed, and found herself smiling. 'Bull.'

    'It's true,' Pete said.

    'That's three against one,' Heather pointed out. 'And you were out cold, so how can you say you didn't. Your little piggie went, "Wee wee wee wee."''Up yours.'

    'Let's everyone knock it off,' Lee said.

    'The thing of it is,' Barbara persisted, 'it wasn't us who did that to your head or stole your clothes. Somebody else must've come along and done it after we were gone.’

    'What did they take?' Pete asked. 'What do you think?’

    'Everything?’

    'Yeah.’

    'Jeez.'

    'They take your undies?' Heather asked.

    'My what?'

    'Your underpants.'

    'Who wears 'em?'

    'And he calls me a pig. At least wear I underpants.’

    'They left you naked?' Barbara asked Earl.

    'Yeah, so what?’

    'What did you do?'

    'What do you mean, what'd I do? I wandered around my birthday suit till I got this stuff.' He fluttered his hand against the front of his shirt. 'Wasn't any picnic finding new duds, tell you that. It's not like people are real keen to part with what they're wearing, and I couldn't find me a store that hadn't already gotten picked clean.'

    'Let me guess,' Barbara said, 'you mugged a fat manager.'

    'I don't know what he was. And I didn't mug him. He was already dead when found him.'

    'Dead?' Barbara asked, wrinkling her nose.

    'Yeah, but I didn't do it.’

    'I'm sure,' Heather said.

    'Hey, I don't go around killing people for their pants.'

    'This man you took the clothes from,' Lee said, 'Did he look like he'd been assaulted?'

    'Your mob didn't get him, if that's what you're at.'

    'It's not my mob.'

    'It's Heather's mob,' Barbara put in.

    'My man was all in one piece. I mean, I don't think he was even cut. He probably died from a heart attack. I'm surprised he still had his clothes, though. Every town has gotten itself stripped, from what I've seen. His billfold was gone, but they hadn't taken his clothes. I know why, too - the guy was an elephant. I had an awful…'

    'Wait wait wait,' Lee said. 'What's this about stiffs? You saw corpses?'

    'What do you think?'

    'How many did you see?'

    'I don't know. Hell, who counted?'

    'How many?' Lee repeated.

    'What do you think, I kept a scorecard? Aah. Let me think. Maybe thirty?' He wrinkled his nose. 'It was pretty awful. Even the babes. Fact is, the babes were the worst, you know…' Something went out of his voice. He frowned 'I thought it'd be sort of cool, seeing 'em all…their clothes off like that. The way it turned out, though, was…I don't know. It made me feel a little sick. The way they were dead. It didn't make me feel horny or anything, just sort of sick and depressed.' He suddenly seemed to cheer 'But hey, guess the good news is I'm not one of them.'

    Lee didn't seem amused. 'These women you saw, did they look as if they'd been attacked?'

    'Yeah. Attacked, all right. By falling buildings. Who knows, though? I don't know how they got killed. The men, I didn't go up and check 'em all, up close and personal. There were a couple I happened to notice with bullet holes, and one guy had a knife in him. But they were more like the exception. Mostly, they were sprawled around near places that'd gotten nailed by the quake. They were pretty messed up. Saw a lot of bashed heads. A lot of nasty cuts. One guy'd caught a big thing of glass right across his face. There was a gal, she didn't have any head at all.' He turned to Barbara and raised a corner of his mouth. 'Fact is, thought she might be you. You know, she was sort of the same general shape and stuff. Could've been you.'

    'Sorry to disappoint you.'

    'Hey, I'm glad she wasn't.'

    'Sure.'

    'Really.'

    'So,' Lee said, 'you think most of these dead people were killed by the quake?'

    'Most of 'em, yeah.'

    'And nearly all of them had been stripped?’

    'Yeah, that's how come I had such a tough time finding myself something to wear. Fuckin' Los Angeles. The damn city's nothing but scavengers. Just look around garbage day. I didn't catch any of 'em in the act, but I bet there's gotta be all these creeps sneaking around taking what they can get off the dead people. Like they're looting stiffs instead of stores. Maybe that's what happened to me,' he said. 'Took me for a goner.'

    'From the look of your head,' Barbara said, 'they tried to help make you one.'

    'You guys shouldn't've left me there like that.'

    'You're the one who started it.'

    'I was only just trying to grab us a car. If you hadn't messed it up, we'd all be home by now.'

    'You can't go around steal…'

    'Let's not start quarreling again,' Lee said. 'It sounds like the situation outside hasn't deteriorated quite as much as I thought.'

    'I saw what I saw,' Heather said. 'I'm not a liar.'

    'Nobody's calling you a liar,' Lee said.

    'If Earl didn't see your mob,' Barbara said, 'then where is it?'

    'He had to see it,' Heather insisted. 'He's lying.'

    'Get real,' Earl said.

    She leveled her eyes at him. 'Maybe you're with them!' He smirked. 'Bull.'

    'They sent you on ahead to find us, didn't they?’

    'You're outa your tree.'

    'Lee! He's one of them! He has to be. The rest of them are sneaking up…'

    'I doubt it,' Lee said. Pistol in hand, he walked to the door, opened it and stepped out onto the balcony. He came back in, shaking his head. After shutting the door, he said, 'It's clear out there. Earl's not with that bunch you told us about, Heather. The rest of them would've been in here long before now.'

    Heather shook her head. 'Maybe they're waiting for a signal from him, or something.'

    'Give it up,' Earl said. 'You probably made up the whole damn thing.'

    'Did not.'

    'Then how come I didn't see 'em?'

    'I don't know.'

    'Why would she make up something like that?' Pete asked. 'Who knows? Maybe she likes the attention.’

    'I didn't make it up!'

    'Take it easy,' Lee told her.

    'Maybe they all went inside someplace,' Heather said. 'You know? And took the bodies in with them.'

    'That's a charming thought,' Barbara said.

    'Sounds to me,' Earl said, 'like a crock of shit.'

    Pete faced him. 'The thing is, we were just about to get out of here when you showed up.'

    'Not me,' Heather said.

    'Barbara and I. What about you? Do you want to come with us?'

    'Yeah, sure, what do you think? I've been out there on my own all morning, and it gives me the creeps. Yeah, I'll come with you. Damn straight.'

    'Could you use a change of clothes before you take off?' Lee asked him.

    'Yeah! Are you kidding? That'd be great. You know what else I could sure use? Something to eat. And a drink. You got some beer or something?'

    Lee frowned. 'Beer? How old are you?'

    'Know what?' Earl said. 'A guy's legal drinking age, supposed to be twenty-one around here, right? But the fact is, there's the unwritten law. The Quake Factor. Ever hear of it?'

    'Afraid not.'

    'Sort of like that wind-chill factor they talk about in places where they've got real winters? What you gotta do, is take a guy's real age and add on the Richter scale reading quake he made it through that morning. That's how you arrive at the Quake Factor. I'm sixteen, right? So you add eight from the Richter scale to that. Total it up, and I'm about twenty-three, twenty-four years old. Way into drinking age.'

    For the first time, Lee smiled. 'You convinced me. Beer it is. How about the rest of you? Could you use some lunch or a drink before you take off?.'

    'That'd be great,' Pete said.