The Walls of Lemuria (28 page)

“You heard me, right?” she said. “We’re all going to die.”

“What brought this on?”

“I was thinking about Levy. The poor guy lost three of his friends last month. Think about that, Keo. They survived the end of the world, only for Earl to do something stupid like stick his hand into a doorway and get bitten. If that wasn’t bad enough, Gavin and Bowe followed right along in the same day.
The same day.
” He could tell she had been thinking about it for some time. “We’re just living on borrowed time, that’s all. One day, like you said, someone will forget to put down one of the barricades and it’ll be over.”

He wasn’t sure what to say, or what he could say. She wasn’t wrong. Surviving the end of the world was already like winning the lottery, only to die three days later because of a dumb mistake?

Is that all this is? Borrowed time? We survive until, inevitably, we make a stupid mistake?

“Keo,” she said. “Say something.”

“Then we just don’t make any mistakes.”

“To err is to human. Isn’t that the saying? Humans make mistakes. We’re going to, sooner or later. It’s inevitable.”

“If everyone does their job, we’ll be fine. We just have to remember what’s at stake.”

“Easier said than done. Even if all the adults do their part, the girls might miss something. They’re just kids.”

“They’re smart kids. They’ll do fine. They’ve been doing fine for a month now.”

“It’s in our human nature to be complacent. I just don’t know who we’re fooling. This isn’t going to last.”

“Maybe.”

“When did you get so optimistic?”

He smiled. “The question is, why are you so pessimistic all of a sudden?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it was listening to Rachel talk about Santa Marie Island and her family. It just occurred to me that while she was talking about seeing them again, all I could think of was how glad I am that everyone I know is already dead so they didn’t have to live through this.”

“Everyone?”

She nodded solemnly.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Thanks.”

“We’ll be fine, Gillian. I’ll make sure of that.”

“You’re just one person, Keo. You can’t be everywhere at once. Sooner or later, you’ll forget something, too. Then what?”

“Gillian.”

“What?”

“Shut up.”

“Why—”

He kissed her before she could finish and then he waited for her to push him away, but when she didn’t, Keo slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her tighter against his body. She moaned against his mouth and he inhaled her scent. She smelled of lavender soap, one of the few luxuries these days.

He immersed himself completely in the feel of her mouth and the surprisingly warm sensation of her skin against his. She was kissing him back, until suddenly she started to push him away. It took every ounce of strength he had to not pull her back to him.

“Keo,” she said breathlessly.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t help myself.”

“No, no, it’s not that.” She was blushing and smiling at him at the same time. “I wanted you to, anyway. It’s—I should tell you something.”

“Can it wait?”

He moved tentatively to kiss her again, but she put her hands on his chest and kept him back.

“Maybe… I don’t know,” she said.

“What is it?”

“I haven’t had sex in three months.”

His reaction to her confession must have been something, because she started laughing and pointing at him.

“Really?” he said.

She nodded between spurts of laughter. “You should see the look on your face right now.”

“Three months? How is that possible?”

She stopped laughing long enough to say, “What do you mean?”

“You’re beautiful, Gillian. How is it possible you haven’t had sex in three months? What were you doing in the two months before the end of the world?”

“Not wanting to have sex.”

“Oh.”

“Look, girls
can
not want to have sex, you know. It’s sort of our God-given right. That and babies.”

“So, it’s been a while?”

She had calmed down now. “Well, three months. I guess that’s a while, right? I mean, it’s not like I’m a virgin or anything. I still know how to do it. It’s sex. It’s not rocket science.”

“That’s good to know,” he said. Then, “Should I wait?”

“I’m surprised you waited this long to make your move. I’m kind of impressed.”

“I have amazing self-control. Either that, or I’m the dumbest man alive.”

“But you’re not gay, right?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You’re not sure?”

“Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but no. I’m pretty sure.”

“So why did you wait so long?”

“There was a lot to do. The house. The woods. The creatures in the darkness. You know, surviving and stuff.”

“Oh, that old excuse.”

He smiled. “That, and I didn’t think you were going anywhere. Besides, it’s either me, Norris, or Levy. And I was pretty sure you weren’t going to end up with Norris.”

“Why? I like Norris.”

“He’s older than dirt.”

“Dirt can be sexy. And why not Levy?”

“He’s too young and he didn’t look like your type.”

“Maybe I like them young, and what do you know about my type?”

“You’re sarcastic and independent and you’d want someone with experience. Like me.”

“God, you’re full of yourself.”

“Am I wrong?”

“No,” she said, grabbing him and kissing him.

She caught him by surprise, and Keo stumbled back and bumped into a tree. Birds took flight above him, but he wasn’t listening to the flapping of wings because Gillian’s mouth was crushed against his and it was all he could do to slip his arms around her waist and pull her closer.

After a moment, she broke their contact and smiled. “I always thought my first time with you would be, I don’t know, more special.”

“What’s more special than against a tree in the woods?”

She rolled her eyes. “Charming. But I’m serious.”

“So am I.” He looked around at the empty woods. “We’re alone out here. As long as you keep it down.”

“Give me a break. You’re the one who’s going to be screaming for your mommy.”

She untangled herself from him and he let her go—again, with a lot of effort. The sudden start and stop should have made him angry, but all it did was make him want her even more.

She leaned against the tree next to him. “I like you.”

“Score.”

“But I don’t want to have sex with you against a tree. Face it; I’m the one who’s going to get the worse of it.”

“I’ll be gentle.”

“I’m sure you will. But still, no.”

“It’s not what you imagined, I get it.”

“Not even close.” Then she smiled at him again. “When was the last time we went out for a supply run together?”

“You and me? Never.”

“Don’t you think it’s time? Maybe you can ask Norris if he’d rather stay at the house the next time you go out, and I can come along.”

“If he says no, I’ll just shoot him in the back of the head.”

She laughed. “Let’s try asking him first.”

*

They didn’t make
mistakes. Everyone made sure of that. Keo checked everything. And when he forgot, Norris didn’t. And when Norris forgot, Gillian didn’t. Between the three of them, the barricades always went up an hour before nightfall and stayed up an hour after sunrise.

They also kept listening to the radios, hoping to hear something that would tell them they weren’t the only people still out there. But there was nothing on the airwaves. Keo had begun to expand farther out into the woods during his morning walks. Each day, he spent anywhere from an hour to two hours just sitting quietly and listening for sounds that he didn’t hear but was sure were out there.

Voices. Footsteps.

Cars.

During the early mornings, when the woods were at their most peaceful, he relived the gas station ambush in his head, replaying the images of the men in black assault vests over and over.

Who the hell were those guys?

They were out there, somewhere, likely probing the interstate for victims. Well-traveled roads, not backwoods ones that would lead them to the house, or like the ones he and Norris took. That made Corden a no-go. A city that size was a prime target for opportunists. If not the men in black, then others.

The creatures continued to probe the house and the woods at night, every night, but they were always gone by morning. There was a certain dependability to it that Keo couldn’t help but feel a little comforted by.

There was also a new normal back at the house.

Lotte’s leg had healed enough by the end of January that she was able to abandon the wheelchair with the help of a crutch they had found lying on a shelf in a mom-and-pop pharmacy about five kilometers from Corden. Lotte being able to move more freely meant she spent more time outside, either by herself or with Christine and Rachel. That, in turn, allowed Keo to sneak in afternoons with Gillian in her room.

They were careful, but Keo always knew it wasn’t going to last forever. They had it too good. The house. The woods. The fish in the river. The stacks of supplies in the basement. It was three months going on four. It was easy living. Even boring.

And it was perfect.

Too
perfect.

Keo always knew that eventually something would happen that would remind him the world was still a very dangerous place. Not just at night, but during the day, too.

The barbershop had
been abandoned even before the end of the world. There were three buildings in the small strip center—a diner, the barbershop, and an empty garage that probably used to be an auto body shop at one point. It didn’t look like it had much to offer even from the road, but after driving past it the last three times they came in this direction, Keo decided to stop in and search it just to be safe.

His instincts were right. There was absolutely nothing of value in any of the three buildings. But they were running out of places to search without expanding their net even wider, so it made for a minor diversion before they headed back to the house.

Keo was in the barbershop, looking out the dirt-encrusted windows at the two-lane road on the other side of the wide-open parking lot, when his radio squawked and he heard Norris’s voice. “You found anything over there yet?”

“Still a big fat nothing,” Keo said into the radio. “How about you?”

“We should have kept going like all the other times. There’s nothing here but empty cans of motor oil.” Norris was in the garage next door. “You got any use for that?”

“Not that I can think of.”

“Nothing in the barbershop? Did you look in the closets in the back? How about all the drawers? There’s gotta be some shaving supplies lying around. Anything?”

“This place was abandoned long ago, Norris. There wasn’t anything here even before the world fell off a cliff.”

“Gotta pick up some more razors.”

“I’ll put it on the list.”

“Let’s head back. I’m already starving.”

“You’re always starving.”

“And I’d be eating right now if you didn’t insist on stopping at this ghost town. Always trust your instincts, kid.”

“Gee thanks, Dad,” Keo said.

Norris chuckled.

He shared Norris’s disappointment in the lack of barber supplies. He would have settled for a pair of styling scissors. The ones they had back at the house weren’t exactly designed to cut human hair. They were mostly intended to chop away hair in huge, undesirable chunks.

Keo ran his fingers through his hair. It had been a month since he had his last haircut, and styling scissors or not, it was getting thick up there. He made a mental note to ask Rachel to cut it this afternoon. He had once made the mistake of asking Gillian, but she had proved terrible at it. The one positive from that experience was that Gillian realized her own deficiencies as a barber and refused to cut anyone’s hair again.

He clipped the radio back on his hip and was walking to the door when he heard it.

Engines.

Keo darted behind the wall next to the glass curtain window that looked out at the parking lot and unslung his MP5SD. He had to squeeze into the corner to stay out of the reflecting sun and from being seen.

His radio squawked right away, and Norris, slightly hyperventilating, said, “You heard that?”

“Yeah,” Keo said into the radio.

He heard the car for another few seconds before he actually saw it. A white Ford F-150 truck. It blasted up the road, going at least fifty miles an hour. It was moving too fast for Keo to have glimpsed anyone inside, though he thought he might have seen a couple of figures in the front cab. Of course, the sun was in his eyes—

Shit,
Keo thought, when he heard tires squealing as the Ford’s brakes engaged.
This day is going to hell fast.

He tightened his grip on the submachine gun and raced across the room, passing cracked mirrors and a couple of reclining barber chairs that had been stripped clean of padding. He ducked behind the end of the wall counter. It was wide enough to hide his entire body, and Keo went into a crouch and peered over it just as the Ford reversed back into view.