Simple (21 page)

The conversation continued, and we learned that Kyle had been the lead singer of a band out of Los Angeles.  I gathered that his skills stopped at the microphone.  Sonya had done him a solid by sticking with him.

“Do you play any instruments, Kyle?”  Maude asked, clearing the plates.  I caught Sonya out of the corner of my eye as she busily picking out a piece of food from her front teeth with her finger.  There was no doubt about it; my opinion of this woman was diminishing by the second.

“Guitar, but it’s been a long time since I played.  I lost it when those fucking things raided the caves at the park.”  Maude nodded in understanding.  “We’ve all lost things.  What matters most is your health.  Possessions are just things, and things can be replaced.”

“Yeah, I just hope that my family is okay,” said Kyle.

“How far is your home from here?”  I asked.

“About twenty miles south of here, in a little town called, Candle.  It used to be a miner’s town, years and years ago.  Before the war, most of the people living there were military, like my old man.”

“And how soon are you going?”  I could feel Barb burning holes in me, and Maude mumbled something under her breath about my manners.  I didn’t care if they both thought I was rude.  I didn’t want them here, and the sooner they left the better.

“First thing in the morning, if that’s okay,” said Kyle.

“That’s more than all right,” said Maude.

“I’m so tired.  I just want to sleep and sleep and sleep,” said Sonya.  Barbara showed them to their rooms and the rest of us helped clean up.  Mic and Giz went to relieve Ben, so that he could eat and they could return to their work.  We all agreed that we would keep our simps to ourselves.  There was no reason to share our business with these two.  The rest of the group was unaware of the progress that had been made, and I decided it best not to share anything.  I’d let Mic do that after our guests were gone.  When the chores were done, I found myself alone again.  I sat at the small table with a bottle of gin that I’d come by while scavenging.  The house it had come from reeked of dead things, and maggots had claimed whatever had been edible.  I had to step over a decomposing corpse to get to the kitchen.  I twisted the cap off and toasted that person before taking a long pull from the bottle.

I was restless, and tempted to go up to the roof for a while.  I’d gone there in an effort to scout the area, and on subsequent guard shifts.  Eventually, it became my personal retreat.  I loved watching the sun set from there, and once it went down, it was cool and quiet. But I decided I didn’t feel like running into anyone — especially Sonya.  I shuttered at the thought of how badly she smelled.  I told myself that they would be gone in the morning, and tried to relax.  I took another swig to celebrate surviving another day, and then rose to push back the curtains.  The moon and stars were blocked by clouds, and the darkness seemed ominous.  I hated the nights in this place, especially since I spent so many of them alone now.  Closing the curtains, I removed my boots and then took up my usual pacing.  I wanted a cigarette in the worst way, and that’s when I remembered seeing a distinct square in Kyle’s pocket.  Grabbing the bottle and my key card, I slipped down the hall to the elevator.  The lights were flickering as I made it to the first floor.  The dim lighting was always creepy to me, especially when it was combined with a long hallway.

When a clap of thunder struck, the lights went out altogether.  I stood still for a moment, debating my next plan of action.  My pulse was pounding, but I still wanted that cigarette.  I felt for the wall and continued slowly.  Having been down it several times, I knew that there was nothing to block my path.  My trouble would be finding the right door to knock on.  When the lights suddenly came back up, I stopped dead in my tracks.  Something was just going around the corner in the distance.  I reached for my pistol and realized I’d left it on the table back in my room.  I couldn’t be sure what I had seen, but it looked like a naked person that was freakishly tall.  I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment and re-opened them.  If it was a person, it definitely wasn’t anyone from our group.  No one among us was that tall.  No one I’d ever seen in my life was that tall.

It took me a moment to derive a conclusion.  It had to be a simp.  Hyperventilating now, I began backing up.  I needed to alert the others, and fast.  There was no way to get to our newcomers.  That would mean going in the direction of that thing, and I wasn’t about to do that unarmed.  I continued backing up as quietly and as quickly as I could, until I reached the elevator.  It seemed like it took forever for the doors to open, and I was half out of my mind with terror, thinking that something would be in the car when the doors did finally open.  Seeing the car empty, I got in and pushed the closed button repeatedly.  I took it to Mic’s office floor and ran down the hall as fast as I could.  When I reached the closed door, I pounded it frantically with my hand.  “Mic, open the door please!  It’s me, and we’ve got trouble!”  My voice sounded a notch below hysteria.

The door whipped open and I went straight into Mic’s arms for a moment.  It was a relief to feel that embrace.  He held me for a second and then pulled me back to look into my eyes.  His expression was a mixture of confusion and concern.  “What is it, Lee?  What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, I saw something, and it wasn’t right.  It wasn’t natural and it wasn’t human.  It was…”

“Okay, take a deep breath and calm down Lee.  You’ve got to tell us what you saw.”

“It was naked and tall, and it was down on the first floor heading toward the rooms that Kyle and Sonya are in.”  I gulped in air and looked around the room for a weapon of some sort.  My eyes landed on Two and Deraline.  They were inanimate and standing motionless.  “Can you make them help us?”  I asked.

“Giz, activate them both and let’s get the rest of our group assembled as quick as we can,” said Mic.

“I’m already doing it,” said Giz as he tapped away at the keys.  The two artificial women came to life, blinking and looking around the room.

“Your heart-rate is accelerated, Lee.  Are you well?” asked Two.

“No.  I’m not fucking well at all, Two, and I don’t need you to tell me that my heart is pumping.  I can feel it!”

“Two, we need you to go to the first floor.  We have intruders,” said Mic, before turning to Deraline.  “Deraline, I need you to go collect the others and bring them all back here.”  The two of them went for the door.

“Wait, Mic, don’t let them leave yet. I don’t have a weapon.  Can one of them go to our room and get my gun?”

“I’ll get it,” said Deraline.  Her eyes met mine briefly, and then she joined Two closing the door behind her.  Giz got up and locked it, and then Mic guided me to the bed to sit down.

“What were you doing on the first floor, Lee?”  Mic asked.

“I was going to ask Kyle for a smoke,” I said.

“I’ve got a spare pack, I’ll get you one.” He crossed the room to his bag and pulled out a pack.  I watched this absently.  My mind was replaying what I had seen in the hallway.  Mic lit two and came back to sit beside me on the bed.  “Here,” he said, handing me one.  I took a hit and exhaled slowly, while Mic and Giz hastily went over what needed to be quickly packed up in case we had to bug out.  Giz coughed and waved his hand at the smoke disapprovingly as he moved around the room collecting things.  I didn’t care that the smoke bugged him; fuck him.  He hadn’t just seen what I had.

“Tell me again exactly what you saw,” said Mic.

“The lights went out so I was holding on to the wall, feeling my way.  Then they came back on and I caught the back of a person going around that last corner in the hall.  Its skin was really pale, it was naked, and it was really tall.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t Kyle?”  I thought about this for a minute, because I really wanted it to be.  I wanted it to be anything other than what I believed it was.

“It was just a split second, you know?”  I said, flicking ashes into an empty orange soda can on the nightstand.

“Is it possible it was Kyle?” he asked again.

I shook my head slowly.  “No.  It wasn’t Kyle.  It was…ducking.

“Ducking?”

“Yeah, like it was almost touching the ceiling, Mic.  I know that sounds crazy, but I’m telling you, that’s what I saw.  He placed his arm around my shoulder.  “I’m not doubting you, Lee, just trying to understand what’s going on.”  About that time, the door opened and our group filed in, wide-eyed.  Deraline came in last, and closed the door at Mic’s instruction.  A barrage of questions followed, and everyone was talking over each other.  I did my best to explain what I had seen.  Everyone looked terrified except for Deraline, who stood like a sentinel facing the door.  If anything tried to get through, they’d have to get through her first.  It was hard to imagine she’d be capable of protecting us.  Her long dark hair was up in a ponytail, and she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt that had to have come from Alice.  They were both petite, so sharing clothes wasn’t a problem.  Evidently, Alice had been playing dress up with her when she visited Giz.  She looked like a typical sixteen-year-old kid.

“Two is coming,” Deraline said calmly.  I was reminded in the tone of her voice that she was incapable of feeling fear.  I resented her for that.  Deraline opened the door and stepped aside.  Two strolled in with the newcomers in tow.  To my dismay, Sonya was still wearing the same clothes and smelling no better.  Kyle looked anxious and very flushed.  They took a seat on the double bed across from me.  The group waited anxiously for Two to tell us what she’d found.

“What did you see, Two?” Mic asked.

“I did not locate any intruders.  I found these two in the same room, and I immediately brought them here.”

“So you haven’t checked the other floors or the perimeter?” I asked.

“No, Lee, I wanted to ensure the safety of these two humans before I did that.”

“I did collect your gun for you, though,” said Deraline.  Turning from her post at the door, she pulled my pistol from the back of her jeans and presented it in her outstretched hand.  I took it from her and checked to ensure it was still loaded.  It wasn’t.  Of course, she didn’t grab my ammo.  “Fucking useless!”  I spat.

“I fired warning shots through the halls,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“Why the fuck would you do that, Deraline?  If you didn’t see any hostiles, why would you fire fucking warning shots through the halls?  That’s not only a waste of valuable ammo, it’s a homing beacon for the simps!”  Her eyes blinked in rapid succession, as if my words were physically painful to her.  The others were shifting uncomfortably and looking at one another like I’d completely lost my mind.

“Your sister was kind to think of our safety first,” said Sonya, changing the subject and breaking the awkward silence.

“She’s not—”

“Lee doesn’t like to think of her sister as kind,” said Giz, effectively cutting me off before I said too much.

“In fact, she doesn’t think of anyone as kind,” he added with a laugh.

“Why do you think there’s a problem here?  We didn’t see or hear anything odd,” said Sonya.

“I saw something strange in the hallway,” I said.

“What did it look like mija?” she asked.

“Like a tall naked guy,” I said, crossing my arms.  The others exchanged glances, and I watched as Kyle shift uneasily.

“I don’t mean to embarrass anyone, but Two, didn’t you say you found them in the same room?”  Ben’s question caused a wave of uncomfortable shifts around the room.

“Yes, I found them together in the same room,” said Two.

“Are you calling your sister the number two?” asked Sonya.

“Yeah…it’s a nickname,” I said.  “I was here first,” I added.

“What’s your real name?”  Sonya asked raising one of her thin, greasy, penciled brows.  Two looked directly at me, as did the rest of my group.  “My sister’s
real
name is BayLee,” I said.  I thought Giz was going to spit orange soda on Alice, who was doing her best to keep her composure.  She turned away to put her hand over her mouth.  I didn’t make eye contact with anyone else.

“Well, I know that this is not our place, but as your guests, we do appreciate our privacy.” She looked around the room to dispel any doubts.  “You saw Kyle,” she said, raising her chin proudly.  Kyle looked positively miserable, but he didn’t dispute her claim.

I stared at him, daring him to say something to dispute me.  He refused to meet my eyes.  “I know that’s not what I saw,” I said flatly.

“Have you been drinking, Lee?”  Ben’s question made me immediately defensive.  “What the fuck does that matter, Ben?”  I responded.  This didn’t help my case, but I couldn’t help it.

“Have you, Lee?”  asked Barb.

“I’ve had a couple of nips off a bottle of gin.” Opinions formed instantly, and everyone began to talk at once, discrediting my story and validating one another’s perspectives.  “Look you guys, I had a couple shots and I admit that, but nothing excessive enough to make me hallucinate, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Can we go back to bed?”  Maude’s question was directed at her nephew.  Mic waved his hand and nodded.  The rest of the group followed, with the exception of our useless simps and Alice, who stayed with Giz.  I bit my lip and said nothing further.  No one was going to believe me.  Hell, even I doubted myself at this point.  Kyle paused just long enough to lock eyes with me as he was leaving the room.  I could swear that the look on his face was one of desperation.  He couldn’t have been more than thirty-five, and Sonya had to be nearing fifty.  I just couldn’t fathom the hold she had over him.