Anyone? (13 page)

“Take my hand, Tess.”

What else could I do? I reached out; he clasped my trembling
hand in his, and drew me to him.

His hand, beside my own, was the only one attached to a living,
breathing person.

I had no idea where he was leading me, but since I had no suggestions
of my own, I walked behind him and kept quiet. Even Callie toddled at my side
as I held the end of her leash. The tornado must have put enough fear into her
that the idea of a leash and collar no longer seemed to bother her. She didn’t
scratch or tug at it, but skipped along like an obedient pet—something cats
weren’t known to be.

Cole continued to carry his grill under his arm. Every once
in a while, he’d turn around, smile, and encourage me to keep up.

“Where are we going?” My first question, my first words
really, since witnessing the body parts. Yes, I wanted to escape the city and
get away from the possibility of finding more dead bodies, but walking off into
the unknown didn’t seem like the best choice.

“Do you really think I’d lead you all the way out here
without a plan?” Cole turned to face me, but kept moving backward so we didn’t
stop.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

Stores, homes, shelves, and pantries, all lay behind us—places
to scavenge and find sustenance so we could keep living. Only dirt roads and
sagebrush lay ahead—death in the form of barren landscape.

“You and me? We’re a team, right?” He waited for me to
answer.

I nodded. “Sure.”

He pointed to himself. “Then let
this
part of the
team lead us for a bit. I know I said this was your thing and that you were the
leader, but sometimes a good leader needs to delegate. You can always go back
to being in charge tomorrow.”

I didn’t know if I ever wanted to be in charge, but Cole annoyed
me and didn’t take things seriously, so of the two of us, I seemed like the
better candidate to run this show. For now, I’d just follow him. “Yeah, you be
in charge. I’m cool with that.”

“Do people still say ‘cool’?” He smirked. “Didn’t that go
away with the eighties?”

I was too tired and too drained from everything that had
happened to defend my words. “I don’t know, I wasn’t born in the eighties. I
used it. Whatever.”

“See? Now ‘whatever’ seems more like something your
generation would say.” He looked over his shoulder and back to me while walking
backward.

“My generation? You’re not
that
much older than me.”

“How old do you think I am?” He raised a brow.

“Mentally or physically?”

“Ha, ha. You’re funny. Come on? Guess.”

I tossed out a random number. “Twenty-three.”

“Nope. Guess again.” His grin widened.

“You’re not older than twenty-five, are you?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” He sidestepped a divot along the dirt
road without even turning around to see it.
Impressive.

“Twenty-six.”

He smiled huge and pointed at me, and for a moment, I
thought I had guessed correctly. “So close, but nope.”

“I give up. All I know is you’re too old to do half the crap
you do.”

“Age is only a number, really. Why let a number define you?
So maybe I’m twenty-four or maybe I’m not, but should that keep me from going
roller skating if I wanted to?”

Roller skating? What in the world is he talking about?

“I say no. If an eighty-year-old wants to skydive, then so
be it. If I want to blow soap bubbles in the park, then why not? Why is riding
a tricycle good for a three-year-old but looks odd for a thirty-year-old?” He
pointed at me, a little more sternly this time. “Don’t let your number define
you.”

I smiled. “So, if I want to have a beer or a tall glass of
wine, then I shouldn’t let being seventeen stop me? Good to know.”

My goading brought him to a complete halt. “No. Do what you
want except for that. Your brain is still growing. Don’t screw it up. Wait
until you’re older to mess around with the chemical makeup of your mind.” He
started walking backward again. “But feel free to jump rope or eat bubblegum
when you’re ninety. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it because you’re
old and shouldn’t mess up your dentures.”

What are we even talking about?
“Let me get this
right. While I’m a kid, I still have to obey rules like no smoking or drinking,
but as an adult I can do whatever I want?”

“Pretty much.”

“This has to be one of the weirdest conversations I’ve ever
had.”

“Maybe, but you’re talking now, aren’t you? And you’re not
thinking about everything happening back in the city either, right? Sometimes
weird conversations are necessary.” He flipped back around and walked forward, as
normal people do. “We’re almost there,” he called over his shoulder.

“Wait? What? Almost where?” I looked around but couldn’t see
anything.

“There!” He raised his arm and pointed to the distance. The
glare of the sun bounced off a metal surface, which I couldn’t quite identify.

“What is it?”

He turned and winked. “I told you I had a lair.”

Cole told me to wait outside as he slid open the large
hanger doors only wide enough for himself to pass through. “Give me a sec. I
want you to see it in all its glory.” The door slid shut.

I looked down at Callie in my arms. “I know. This is totally
weird.”

A second later, Cole pushed the doors all the way open,
stood back and swept his arm to the side. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

Humble, my ass.

I took a tentative step forward, and my mouth dropped open
as I took it all in. Intended to house airplanes, Cole had transformed the
interior of the metal hanger into something else entirely, and I could hardly
believe it.

Strands of white Christmas lights and decorative Chinese
lanterns draped from one side to the other. The largest RV sat parked to one
side with its canopy drawn and an indoor/outdoor rug thrown on the cement
ground with a beautiful patio dining set on top—seating for ten. A little much,
but with everything else going on, I guess having a dining table for ten didn’t
seem all that strange.

A movie screen with theater seating and a popcorn machine
sat in one corner of the hanger. In another, a steaming hot tub with lounge
furniture, robes and flip-flops, all under a gazebo.
A freaking hot tub!

Another section of the hangar looked like a grocery store
with shelves fully lined with canned goods, bottled water, and paper products.

Cole had thought of everything. He had a place to take a
shower. He had a hammock, a putting green, and a small garden area—barley sprouting—all
under artificial lighting. He’d even parked a red Ferrari, turned at an angle,
to add to the madness.

“That’s for show,” he said, indicating the car. “But it’s
nice to sit in and pretend you’re going somewhere. I’ll let you sit in it as
long as you promise not to scratch up the leather. There’s a no cats allowed
policy that goes along with my offer though.”

“Where did you get all of this?” I shook my head. I knew
exactly where he’d gotten it all. “Forget it, how did you get it all here and”—I
waved my arm at the lights and everything—”how does any of this even work?”

“I used a truck and my muscles.” He flexed. “Believe it or
not, I’m stronger than I look, and as for the power, well, I pilfered enough
generators and solar panels to keep everything going comfortably for a good
while. Had to do a lot of rewiring and grounding of cables, and I’m always
replacing a solar panel or two, but for now, it does a decent job. I’ve got
candles and battery-operated lanterns, just in case.” He smiled. “Do you like
it?”

“Yeah, it’s... it’s great, but none of this is yours, right?”
It looked awesome and everything, but I had to remember it had all been stolen,
just like the grill he continued to hold. People would want their stuff back
and we might end up in jail because of it.

“Possession is nine tenths of the law.” He ushered me inside
and slid the large doors into place. “So don’t rain on my parade.”

Always with the idioms, though he’d gotten this one right.

“Are you sure about this?” I stood there, a bit afraid to
touch anything, but really kind of wanting to.

“Well, if the feds come, we’ll tell them we found it this
way and we were keeping an eye on it until everyone got back. We were being
good citizens.” He headed toward the RV and slipped his shoes off before
entering the open door. “You coming?”

“If I put Callie down, she can’t get out, can she?”

“No, it’s locked up tight, but we’re going to have to figure
out her living arrangements. You know, where’s she gonna poop and what’s she
gonna eat. For you and me, I’ve got all that covered, but I hadn’t planned on
taking care of animals, so we’ll have to work something out.”

I set my cat down but left the leash on in case I needed to
grab her. She stretched her legs and arched her back, then started exploring
and rubbing herself on everything.

“Great. Cat hair.” He sighed. “Oh well, come on. Let me show
you something.”

When I got to the door of the RV, he yelled at me to take
off my shoes. My Doc Martens were beat up and rather filthy. It took me a
moment to remove them, and when I noticed my brown smelly socks, I took those
off too. I hadn’t showered in who knows how long and the stench was something
awful.

“You coming?”

I grabbed the railing and climbed the few steps until I
entered the biggest RV I’d ever seen–bigger than some apartments my friends
lived in. Nicer too. The slide outs made it huge.
Wow.
“How did you get
this?”

He looked at me with a blank expression. “Do you realize you
ask the same questions over and over?” He let out his breath. “I went to the dealership,
found the keys, and then drove the sucker over here. It was a pain in the ass,
but I did it and I haven’t moved it since. Anything else?”

“No, I guess that’s it.” The plush couch beckoned to me, but
I didn’t dare sit on it, not when I was covered in filth. The interior still
had its “new car” smell and being surrounded by so many clean things,
new
things, my own awfulness shone from me like a neon sign.

“Okay, I’ve already claimed the queen bed in the back, which
by all rights is mine since I was the one who drove this thing here. Did you
know it took me three hours to drive twenty miles?”

I shook my head.

“It did. Like I said, the roads are a mess and this RV isn’t
easy to maneuver, but it was worth it. There’s a set of bunk beds in the back,
not big, but nice. Since you’re a kid, you might like it. Or, there’s a pullout
bed in the front. It’s bigger, sleeps two if you feel like you need a lot of
room to move around at night. Totally up to you.
Mi casa es su casa
.”

“What about finding my dad?” He’d made a very nice home for
himself here, but this wasn’t
my
home, and I didn’t want him to forget
that.

“We’re still going to find him. Nothing has changed, but we
need rest and we need a plan, because climbing Rockport isn’t going to be easy.”

Hearing him say “we’re going to find him” eased my worries. He
still planned to come with me, even though after I’d seen this place, I figured
he wouldn’t want to leave.

“What was it you wanted to show me?” Unless the RV was the
surprise.

“Oh, yeah!” He opened the door to the bathroom and when he
returned, he told me to put out my hands.

I held them out, palms up, and he placed a trial sized bottle
of shampoo and a new bar of soap in my hands. Not what I expected. “This is
called soap. Use it. I don’t mind sharing my abode with you, but Tess, you are
smelling mighty ripe, my friend. You
and
that cat of yours. I’ll show
you how to use the shower then when you’re done, we’ll tackle bathing the cat.”
He smiled. “That should be some fun. I’m kind of looking forward to it.”

“Cole?”

“Yeah?”

I swallowed hard. “Thank you, for everything. I know I wasn’t
being very nice to you before, but I just want to say I’m sorry. If I hadn’t
found you, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now.”

He smiled and patted my shoulder. “You’re a good kid, a
smart kid. I’m sure you would’ve managed. Sometimes we don’t know how strong we
are or what we’re capable of doing until we’re forced to find out.”