The Nightworld (10 page)

Chapter 19

I’m just raising my hand to knock when the stairwell door bursts open and a guy with a gun yells, “Freeze!” like he’s playing a cop on TV. I do freeze, but Tank isn’t so cooperative. He starts growling at the guy, acting like he’s going to lunge.

“Drop your gun.” The guy points his own at my forehead. Reluctantly, I drop my gun at my feet. Tank’s growling increases in volume a notch or two.

“I’ll shoot that thing in two seconds if you don’t get it under control.” The guy isn’t kidding. I kneel next to Tank and tell him to sit. He does, but he doesn’t take his eyes off the guy.

“Who are you and what do you want?” The guy is practically screaming.

“Hey, want to keep it down? I don’t think we want to draw attention like that, do we?”

“Shut up and answer the question.”

“Which one?”

He just stares at me for a second, blinking.

“Do you want me to shut up or answer the question?”

He sneers and raises the gun. I’m getting ready to try to grab mine from where I dropped it when the door behind me opens.

“Zeke, stop!”

Without turning I know it’s her. Lara.

“Get back inside.” The guy named Zeke looks pissed that he’s not getting to shoot me.

“No, Zeke. He’s a friend. I know him.”

She comes into view and I want to cry. She’s even more thin than she was before, if that’s possible. Her hair is combed but it looks dirty, and she has a bruise under her left eye that starts a burn simmering inside me.

“Who hit you?” I sound harsher than I mean to sound.

She shakes her head. “It was an accident.” A beat passes while she looks at me, and then she says, “I can’t believe you’re here.”

“I wanted to make sure you were okay.” I don’t tell her how many times I told myself she was dead. Or how scared I was getting here.

“She’s fine.” Zeke isn’t happy.

“Who’s he?” I tip my head toward the Neanderthal.

“Zeke’s good people.” She turns to Zeke. “Just like Nick is, Zeke. Now put down the gun and let’s get inside.”

“With him? I don’t think so. And for sure that dog isn’t coming inside.”

Lara stares him down. “It’s still my place, Zeke. You will always be welcome in it, but so is Nick.” She looks doubtfully at Tank. “And his dog too.”

I’ve never seen that look on her face before. She looks like nobody better mess with her, like she could make you regret it if you did. It’s kind of sexy.

She turns and holds the door open, and I don’t have to be asked twice.

The place looks nothing like it did the night of Lara’s party. The wall of windows is covered with blankets and plastic. The largest couch is covered with a tangle of sheets, and the fireplace’s glass cover is open, the gas flame blazing. There are only a couple of lights on, dim lamps that cast a warm glow on the room but don’t penetrate the blankets on the windows. On the chair closest to the fireplace, a girl is huddled under a blanket. She has the darkest circles under her eyes that I have ever seen.

“Kath.” Lara speaks to the girl gently, as though she’s talking to a spooked horse. “This is Nick. Remember? I told you about him.”

Kath focuses on me slowly and smiles. “The boy from the party,” she whispers.

Lara nods, blushing a little. “That’s right, Kath.”

Tank runs all around the place, sniffing. He finally settles on one of the couches and rests his head on his paws. I can tell he’s beat, but he keeps his eyes open, watching to see that everything is safe. I see Kath watching him.

“That’s Tank. He won’t hurt you.”

“Damn right he won’t, or I’ll drop him.” Zeke is locking the door. Once he’s got all the deadbolts done, he pushes a credenza in front of it. “I locked up the stairwell door again too, in case anybody cares. That cloth wadding is really helping to hold the golf club in the handles better.”

“That’s great, Zeke. That was a good idea you had.” Lara reaches out for me, and I can’t believe she is standing in front of me, alive. I take her hand, and she leads me toward the balcony. “I’m going to show Nick around. Can you guys finish the last of the lunch prep?”

Zeke just grunts, but Kath smiles that slow smile and hops up. “Sure. Come on, Zeke.” She tries to take his hand, but he just brushes past her and stalks into the kitchen. Kath’s smile disappears, but she follows him. I wonder if they’re a couple.

Lara parts the plastic sheet hanging in front of the sliding glass door and opens the door, and we go out on the balcony. It doesn’t feel like the night of the party, that’s for sure. The air is frigid. I wonder if it’s just going to keep getting colder and colder with no sun.

“What’s up with Bozo in there?”

“Zeke?” She shrugs. “He’s been through a lot. We all have.” She falls silent and stares out at the city.

I look too. “Not much like the last time we were here, is it?” The plumes of smoke Morton and I saw from the freeway are bigger and blacker up close, inky stains against the murky sky. Half the buildings are dark, and weirdest of all, there is very little traffic noise. I hear distant yelling, the sound of some sort of metal crashing against metal, a gunshot. But no city buses, no cabs. No traffic.

“It’s really scary out there, Nick. People are killing each other for scraps of food or clothing. They killed my brother, Brian.” Her voice is soft, but I can hear the pain in it.

I’m stunned. I don’t even know what to say to her, so I just take her hand and hold it tight. She looks up at me, her lip trembling, and I think she’s going to burst into tears, but she grits her teeth and pulls it together. Something hard passes over her face, and she turns back to the cityscape. “That’s how I met Zeke and Kath. Zeke saved my life that night.” She takes a deep breath, and I can tell she’s not seeing the city that’s laid out before her. She’s seeing something else, something horrible. “We were trying to get out. Brian thought it would be safer at our country house, and since Mom and Dad were still—
are
still—in Europe, we figured there was no reason to stay here. We’d packed what we could and we were getting into Brian’s car in the garage. They came out of nowhere. We heard them running before we saw them . . . you know how underground garages always echo? I don’t think I’ll ever get that sound of them running toward us out of my head.

“There were four of them. One grabbed me by the hair and held me. They dragged Brian out of the car and started hitting him. One of them hit him with a baseball bat across the head, like he was swinging for a ball. And Brian . . . the next moment he was gone.” She narrows her eyes at whatever she’s seeing. “I’m glad he was gone so quickly. They . . . they kept hitting him for a long time. And then they turned their attention to me.

“That’s when Zeke showed up. He shot two of them before they knew what was happening. I managed to kick the one who had hold of me, and Kath jumped on him. He finally ran. Zeke told the last guy to run too, or die. He ran.”

I squeeze her hand. “I’m so sorry, Lara. So sorry.” There isn’t anything else to say. Less than three weeks ago, I was here at a party. Her brother was alive and well. My friend Charlie was geeking it up. My dad was home waiting for me. I can’t believe how things have changed.

She nods. And then she says something that doesn’t go with the girl I knew, the high school prom queen, the candy-pink lip gloss aficionado. She says, “I just wish Zeke had shot them all.”

Chapter 20

When we go back in, there’s no sign of Kath or Zeke. Tank is still on the couch, but now he’s fast asleep. It’s a lot warmer than outside on the balcony, and I’m thankful for the heat coming from the fireplace.

“You guys still have gas? And power.” I nod toward the lamps.

“Not dependably. We lose the gas at least twice a day now, and one day it didn’t come on at all. It got really cold in here. The power is iffy too. And the water is pumped up here with electricity, which is what really worries me. We can’t live long without that. We do collect rainwater, but it’s not enough.”

It’s starting to sink in to me how screwed we all might be—and how clear it is that staying here really isn’t an option.

“Let’s see how lunch is coming,” says Lara, heading for the kitchen.

Zeke and Kath are standing side by side, comparing cans of food. They
are
a couple, judging by Zeke’s hand on Kath’s waist.

“What do you think of green beans?” Kath holds up a can for Zeke to see.

“Sounds delectable, baby.” He’s smiling. He actually looks like a nice guy at this moment. At least, nicer than the snarling jerk who met me at the door.

“Is the menu decided?” Lara says it in her snootiest voice, like she’s planning a million-dollar wedding instead of talking about canned food.

“Yes, milady, the menu is ready. Shall we dine on the good china?” Kath smiles at Lara.

“Oh! Fancy. Sounds perfect.” Lara grabs some plates from a cupboard and points to a drawer. “Silverware is in there, Nick.” I grab some forks and spoons and we all gather in the living room to eat a lunch of canned ravioli and canned green beans and Pepsi by candlelight. Tank wakes up immediately when he smells the ravioli.

“Um, is there a place I can feed him? I have some dog food in my pack.”

Lara grabs a bowl from the kitchen and we settle Tank in a corner of the living room. He looks over occasionally while he’s inhaling his food, and I can tell he thinks the ravioli is a better deal.

When we’ve finished eating, Kath brings a box from the kitchen and shyly bestows it upon Lara. “I think this should be a celebration,” she says. “In honor of finding old friends.” She smiles at me.

“The Twinkies.” The reverence in Lara’s voice makes me smile. I watch her take individually wrapped snack cakes from the box. She places one in front of each of us, and even Zeke seems to defrost a bit more.

“We found these in the 7-Eleven on Broad Street,” he says. “It looked like it was totally looted, but Kath has a nose for Twinkies.” He winked at Kath across the coffee table. “She insisted we check out the back room, and there they were. Four completely unmolested Twinkies, just sitting in their box, waiting for us.”

“I heard these will last through a nuclear bomb,” says Kath as she licks the creamy filling from hers.

“I heard that too!” Lara and Kath giggle, and it’s almost like we’re all sitting around in the school cafeteria being dumb. Only we’re not, and we may never be again.

The girls seem to realize this too, because their giggles trail off. We all focus on our Twinkies for a little while.

“At least there’s no homework.” I know it’s a lame thing to say, but I just want to break the silence.

“Ugh. Chem lab.” Lara grimaces. “I always had to really study for that class.”

“I wonder if we’ll be going back to school in September.” Kath looks wistful. “I sort of miss it. Were you guys going to be seniors?”

Lara and I both nod.

“I was going to be a junior next year.” Kath wraps her arms around her knees. I notice Zeke isn’t saying anything.

“What about you, Zeke?”

He shrugs. “I dropped out in the middle of last year. It just seemed . . . pointless.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re probably one of those straight-A guys, right?” Zeke curls his upper lip at me. “It’s all easy for you, right?”

I let a moment pass before I answer. “I’d say I’m more like one of those B-minus guys, and I worked for those.” It’s only half a lie. Yeah, I’m a B-minus guy—when I’m lucky—but I’ve always earned my mediocre grades with the absolute minimum amount of work possible.

“Huh.” Zeke looks surprised. “I would have figured you for a brain.”

I just shrug. Lara doesn’t blow my cover. She just watches.

“School’s okay, but there are other things in life besides books.”

“Exactly,” says Zeke. “I just never got into it. And it was work, man. Always seemed to me that if I could get on at MacNally’s, I’d be better off than if I got a stupid diploma.”

“MacNally’s?”

“Construction. Now that I’m good at.” Zeke grinned.

“Wow.” I don’t have to fake being impressed. Those kinds of skills are likely going to matter a lot more in the future.

“I know,” says Kath. “Let’s play a board game. I know there’s Scrabble—”

“No Scrabble!” Zeke frowns.

“Okay, how about Trivial Pursuit?”

“How about poker?” Zeke grins. “
Strip
poker!”

I start to say we probably shouldn’t, just because I think that’s the gentlemanly thing to do, but Lara interrupts me.

“You’re on, baby!” She has a peculiar gleam in her eye. “Although you might need to refresh my memory on the rules.” She looks a little too innocent for me to believe her.

Zeke looks like a cat sucking on some feathers. “No problem.”

Lara jumps up. “I’ll grab the cards.” Kath and I both exchange a glance. I don’t think either of us is up for it. I don’t know why she’s hesitating, but I’m sort of embarrassed. I don’t really want to strip in front of Lara.

“Okay.” Lara comes back with a couple of decks. She drops them on the coffee table. “Rules—only tops come all the way off. Bottoms to your underwear.”

“What?” Zeke looks disappointed.

“Take it or leave it.” Kath is laughing. Now that the rules are clear, she seems more into it.

“We’ll take it, ladies,” I say, trying for a little levity myself. I have a feeling this is a bad idea.

“Okay, Zeke?” Lara raises her eyebrows at him.

“Okay.” He looks a little smug as he explains the rules.

Forty-five minutes later Zeke is wearing nothing but boxers and I’m down to my jeans. Kath has bare feet and is wearing a bra and her khakis. Lara hasn’t lost anything but a sock.

“She’s a shark.” I shake my head at Zeke.

He nods. “We’ve been had.” But he’s smiling. “I’m gonna declare myself the loser here, seeing as I have no wish to lose my boxers, and I’m freezing.” He picks up a throw off the couch and tosses it to Kath. In his best character-from-a-bad-Western voice, he says, “You must be freezing too, pretty lady.” He waggles his eyebrows at her and she laughs. She wraps the throw around her shoulders.

The gas fire pops out just then.

“Oh, damn.” Lara tries to act like it’s no big deal, but I can tell she’s nervous. “This happens. It always comes back on eventually.” She goes to the fireplace and turns off the gas. “Who wants first watch?”

“What’s the deal?” I’m not sure what she means.

“We can’t leave the gas turned on, because if it comes back and we haven’t lit it we’ll all die from the fumes. So we keep watch, and check every hour to see if it’s back on, with this.” She flicks one of those butane fireplace lights.

“I’ll take first watch.” It sounds easy enough.

“Nah.” Zeke shakes his head at me. “Time for you and me to go get some food.”