World-Mart (5 page)
“Coming or not?” Charlotte asked as the group started their engines.
“I’m cold . . . and it’s getting dark,” Shelley said, backing from the sand cruisers.
“Suit yourself,” the young man said. Whipping up a six-foot arc of sand at Shelley, he spun the vehicle around and then took off, returning to the north. The two other drivers followed suit, and soon the three were nothing but a hum and a low haze vanishing in the distance.
Shelley and her companion stared off into the horizon until there was nothing left to see, and then they began to glance at one another, dazed.
And what of Charlotte?
“We should start walking,” Shelley said.
At her prompt, the two began their long trek back to the shuttle garage.
In what felt like a vindictive act of God, it began to rain. It came just a few drops at a time at first, but within just a few minutes, the two hiked through heavy sheets of water. The rain quickly grew cold and relentless, and visibility went to nothing.
Water began to pool all over the muddy ground, and as the two sloshed through it, their clothes grew filthy and ragged. Their bare feet became cold and raw. Still, they continued on, having no nearby shelter in which to wait out the storm. Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and lightning began to crash far off in the north.
VIRGINIA made chicken nuggets and vegetables on Fridays. She set the table late, having expected Shelley home with her school shuttle. She had disappeared with her friends before, so the family did not worry about her as much as they groaned over a late dinner. By the time the sun set, Kurt and George both began complaining about how hungry they were, and the three sat down and ate without her. Virginia cleared the table, then sat and waited.
When eight o’clock came, she reluctantly turned out the kitchen light. She returned to her seat at the kitchen table, the glow of the wall heater turning her into a silhouette before Kurt’s and George’s dimly lit faces. She turned to Kurt. “Time to get ready for bed.”
Kurt got up, but remained by his seat. “I don’t want to go!”
“Mommy’s tired,” she said.
“But the bathroom and the hallway are dark, and if there’s a monster in my room, I wouldn’t know it was there!” Kurt looked over at George. “Daddy, will you sit with me while I brush my teeth?”
George got to his feet. “Sure, buddy.”
The two filed out of the room, and the faint glow from the bathroom’s battery-powered click-light seeped into the dark hall.
Virginia stayed close to the heater, suddenly realizing how cold it was. It was likely twenty degrees colder outside. If Shelley didn't get home soon, she could freeze to death.
Virginia closed her eyes as the room began to spin. She took a deep breath, knowing her anxiety was getting the best of her. Shelley was a smart, resourceful young woman. Virginia knew that she needed to give her room to test her wings, as hard as that was to do. She felt her body go flush, and she began to shiver in a sudden cold sweat. Struggling against an onset of nausea, she got to her feet, went to her room, pulled off her shirt, and then collapsed into bed.
George and Kurt finished up in the bathroom, and then George walked Kurt to his room. He turned off the click-light and found his way into his bedroom. Virginia gathered the blankets over her body as another chill raced through her.
“I’m going to wait up a while longer,” George said, moving to give Virginia a kiss on the forehead. “You’re burning up,” he said.
“I thought I felt something coming on earlier today,” she said, shivering. “I heard there’s a flu going around,” she added, although she had heard nothing of the sort. “I’m so cold. Lie down with me for just a minute?”
George got in bed, turning his back to her. “Don’t give it to me.”
“My apologies in advance should I do so by accident,” she said, nestling her sweaty back up against his to offset the chill.
George moved to get comfortable. The temperature under the covers was smothering, but the bedroom was so cold that George could almost see his breath. He tried to adjust the blankets to find a reasonable temperature, and Virginia tugged at them with another shiver, shifting them to favor her side. He sighed, resigning himself to the idea that, if his insomnia did not keep him awake, Virginia surely would.
At least tomorrow was Saturday.
Most people who worked in the Corp Segregate, George and Virginia included, rarely worked on weekends. On Saturdays, Kurt helped himself to dry cereal and comic books, while George and Virginia slept in until around nine and Shelley stayed in bed until at least noon. The bulk of most Sundays were devoted to church functions, although George and Virginia both agreed that Faith-Corp’s district sermon manager was egotistical and short-fused. Unfortunately, one could not simply stop going to church because of personal issues. Everyone went to church.
Virginia often joked that they might as well go every week to get their tithing’s worth. Faith-Corp had somehow contracted them into monthly payments by direct deposit, and everyone knew better than to tangle with the church’s high paid Law-Corp mangers. Faith-Corp also knew whenever George and Virginia had opted to let their family sleep in on a Sunday, bombarding them with visits by associates from the church council, stressing the importance of attendance. It was simply easier to go, even if church had become just a Corporate shell of what George and Virginia remembered it to be.
Most people weren’t old enough to remember what George and Virginia remembered, though, and among them, the majority had long ago forgotten God. There were enough enormous entities to fear and worship these days without adding Him into the mix.
Virginia rolled over with a moan as she continued to lie restlessly in bed. Sweat poured from her and heat emanated from her skin, and yet she could not will her body to stop shivering. Her back began to tense up, and she stretched and contorted in an attempt to alleviate her growing discomfort.
She struggled to reorient herself as a wave of nausea hit her. She got to her feet and hurried down the dark hall. She coughed and retched over the toilet until a thick, bitter liquid came. She sat where she was for a moment, barely able to move. When she finally did try to stand, her legs failed her before she could take a single step. She crumpled to the linoleum, her head smacking against the hard floor, and then the dark room faded into a senseless black void.
George heard the sickening thump Virginia’s head made when it hit the linoleum, and he sat up. “What was that?”
“Daddy!” Kurt cried out.
George rushed into Kurt’s room. “Kurt?”
Kurt hid beneath his covers. “Daddy, I heard a monster in the bathroom!”
George hurried to the bathroom and activated the click-light. Virginia lay unconscious on the floor. “Virginia?”
The telephone sat amidst a few other rarely used items on a shelf across the room. George stumbled through the darkness to find it, then brought it back into the bathroom and dialed Emergency Dispatch-Corp.
An emergency associate answered on the third ring. “This is Emergency. How may I direct your call?”
“My wife is unconscious!” George cried. “I think she hit her head!”
“All of our Medical associates are out on other calls right now. Your estimated wait for a Medic Shuttle is three hours. Do you want me to put you on the list?”
“Three hours? She could be dead by then!”
“I’m sorry, sir, but that’s the best we can do for you. If you’d like to speak to my manager, I’d be more than happy to transfer your call.”
“Please do!” George yelled.
Kurt began to cry from his bedroom as light, tired music began to play into George’s ear. He sat at Virginia’s side, trying to wake her, ignoring Kurt’s pleas for him to come back and keep him safe from his imagined monsters.
Virginia didn’t move. George checked for a pulse, relieved with the reassurance that she was still alive.
The music continued through the telephone, one song running into another. A recording came on: “The next three minutes will cost ten-fifty. Press one to accept the charges. To forfeit press two, or simply hang up.”
The front door opened and then squealed closed, and George tensed up even tighter. He hung up the telephone. “Shelley! In here!”
Shelley shuffled in, barefoot, covered in mud, her face puffy with tears. Her eyes went wide, and she collapsed down to Virginia’s side. “Mom?”
“Help me get her to the bed,” George said.
George got Virginia’s upper body, while Shelley carried her legs. They slowly made their way to the bedroom, and then carefully laid her across the bed. She continued to sweat with her fever, and George opted to cover her only lightly.
“What happened?” Shelley asked.
George shook his head. “I don’t know. She said there was a flu going around.”
“Shouldn’t she go to the hospital?” Shelley continued backing up until she got to the door.
“I tried! Everyone’s busy!”
“But this is an emergency!”
“It doesn’t matter! No one’s coming to help!” George yelled. “And where the hell have you been?”
Shelley looked down. “I got lost.”
George was in no mood to argue with her, so he simply nodded and turned away.
The thought occurred to him that he and Shelley together might be able to carry Virginia to the hospital, and then he considered that the Medic Shuttle would probably get there before they were able to reach the hospital on foot. He thought to call Emergency again, but realized that he had left the phone in the bathroom.
“Virginia?” he tried again, giving her shoulder a gentle nudge. When she did not respond, grief swelled up in him and he couldn’t help but cry aloud.
There was nothing he could do at that moment but lie next to her and hold her as tightly as he could. He wrapped his arms around her, helpless.
“Daddy,
please
come in here!” Kurt cried from his bedroom. “I’m scared! The monsters!”
VIRGINIA woke to the frightening realization that she was not in her own bed. She opened her eyes and the room slowly came into focus. She was in the hospital. There was an intravenous needle in her arm and fluids dripped from a bag hanging over her head. She lay in a tiny isolation room with layers of clear, split plastic walls between her and the locked door. A camera watched her.
She tried to sit up, but every muscle in her body burned and ached. She looked into the camera. “Hello! Somebody?”
She tried to think back to her last memory. Her head throbbed and her thoughts were fuzzy, but she was able to recall being in the bathroom. She had gotten sick. A black sheet had enveloped her when she had tried to stand up from the toilet, smothering out her thoughts.