Anyone? (8 page)

He lit several candles and placed them around our staked-out
corner in Rite Aid. Candles of all sizes and fragrances lined the pharmacy
counter and nearby shelves, casting swaying shadows on the walls as the wicks
flickered. Comforting, yet eerie at the same time.

“You okay?” he asked.

I nodded. The makeshift bed of stuffed animals, Snuggies,
and packages of toilet paper cushioned my bottom and kept me off the cold
linoleum floor. It sure beat the gas station, and happened to be more comfortable
than I would have imagined.

He didn’t make himself a similar bed, but spread out a
blanket on the ground and used a couple stuffed animals of his own as pillows.

“I have a sleeping bag if you want it.” I pointed at my packed
duffle bag he’d dragged inside for me. “You’re welcome to use it.”

He tucked an arm behind his head. “I’m good. Besides, do you
really want a smelly man sleeping in your bag? I haven’t showered in days.”

I hadn’t thought about that. “When you put it that way, no, but
you look uncomfortable.”

“I’m good. I have all my stuff stashed at the motel on
ninth
and ninth. We’ll grab it tomorrow when you’re feeling better.”

The motel on ninth and ninth wasn’t far away, a few blocks
at best. “I could’ve walked there.”

He smirked. “Yeah, I don’t think so. You’re still a bit
loopy in the head and even though my muscles are hard to ignore, carrying you
while walking your cat doesn’t seem all that joyous. There’s only an hour of
daylight left anyway. Best to camp here and then figure out what we’re doing
tomorrow.”

I settled against a large teddy bear with my face against
its belly. “Do you have a car?”

He laughed. “Of course I do. Several in fact. Don’t you?”

“No, I was saving up for one.”

“Saving up for one? What’s with that?” He shook his head and
continued to lie there all relaxed. “You’re doing it all wrong, my naïve little
friend.” He waved his arm. “Just point at whichever car you like and say, ‘mine’
and it’s yours. That’s how I’ve been claiming things.” He pointed to a
vaporizer on the top shelf. “That’s mine. See how it works?”

“Stop it, I’m serious. I need a car so I can charge my phone,
call my dad, and get the heck out of here.”

“I see.” He dragged out his last word and turned to stare at
the ceiling for quite some time before casting his gaze on me again. “Where
have you been hiding for the past two months?”

My shoulders stiffened. “My dad installed a bomb shelter in
our backyard.”

“Bomb shelter... nice. Lucky you.” He paused. “Here’s the
thing, and I hate to burst your pretty little bubble, but it’s not going to be
that easy. First, you’re not going to get any reception. I’ve tried. Second, do
you think I would be hoofing it if I could be driving instead?”

He lay back on his pillows and stared at the ceiling again. “I
don’t mean to knock your plans, I really don’t, but you’ve got to be realistic.
The satellite systems have all gone haywire and the roads are either so
littered with junk and debris they’re hard to maneuver, or giant craters have
wiped out huge sections altogether.” He rolled his head to the side to look at
me. “So I assume you haven’t seen I-15, have you?”

I shook my head. My chest grew heavier with each word he
spoke.

“Between Natesville and Wilder, gone. There
is
no
road, just a huge hole where those cities used to be. Viaducts have collapsed.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of abandoned cars block good sections of road, and
nearly every bridge between here and Madison has crumbled into the river. Those
that do remain are hanging by a thread. I wouldn’t cross ‘em if you paid me.
Well, maybe if you paid me.”

Natesville and Wilder?
That was over a hundred miles
from here. And Madison? That was the next state over.
Another state.
How
big was this thing? I straightened and drew my knees to my chest. “What do you
think happened?”

He kept his eyes on me and took a minute before speaking. “I
wish I knew. Meteors are my guess, though it doesn’t explain the crazy weather patterns
we tend to get now.”

Crazy weather?
I wrapped my arms around my legs,
trying to ease my rising panic. “You didn’t see it? Where were you?”

“I didn’t say that I didn’t see it, I just can’t explain it
is all. I’m not a scientist.” He turned his gaze to the ceiling and tucked his
arms under his head.

I waited for him to say more, but several minutes ticked by
without a word. “You didn’t tell me where you were?”

He took a large breath and released it through his nose. “I
know.”

What kind of answer was that? Now every worst-case possible
scenario ran through my mind. Criminal? Mental patient? That was probably it.
He’d escaped from a psych unit for the criminally insane.
Great.
“You’re
scaring me.”

He glanced at me before looking back to the ceiling. “No
need to be scared. I’m as gentle as a baby panda. Maybe even more so, but I’m
not going back to my previous life, so the less you know about me the better.
This is my opportunity to create a different, more improved life for myself.”

“So basically, you’re taking advantage of a pretty crappy
situation?”

“I wouldn’t say that. I’d say it’s more like I’m trying to
find the silver lining in all this mess.”

“There is no silver lining.”

He chuckled. “Potato potahto.”

“But what about when everyone comes back?” This wasn’t a
game. At some point, people would return. They would, and... actually, I had no
idea what would happen at that point. Not a clue, though I was certain anything
this weirdo took and claimed as his, he’d have to return. I glanced down at my
Doc Martens.
Shoot.

“It’s been two months, kid. If they were coming back, they
would’ve done it by now.”

“You’re delusional!” I threw the teddy bear at him. “They
will be back! All of this is temporary and you’re crazy to think it isn’t.” I
know I joked about it being the end of the world, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t! It
couldn’t be. “People don’t disappear, you know? Especially this many people!”

He laid the teddy bear to the side and sat upright in the
dim light, looking at me without a hint of anything but seriousness on his
face. “Look around, because apparently they do.”

Tears pushed against my blinking eyelids, and I swallowed
hard. My lungs began to burn and my chest compressed, squeezing the little remaining
air out through my nose. But no air came in, as though a handful of cotton
balls had been shoved into my throat. My blood thrummed inside my ears and my
heart pounded, smacking my ribcage like an angry fist against a door. He had to
be wrong. No, he
was
wrong.

I stood quickly, but then fell to my hands and knees,
holding the ground, staring at the dizzying tiles spinning around me.
I can’t
breathe. I can’t breathe.

He knelt in front of me, took my face between his hands, and
forced me to look him in the eyes. “It’s okay. You’re okay. Small breaths. Like
this.” He took a breath in and released it. “Come on. Your turn.”

My arms flailed at my sides, smacking the air as though I was
drowning, but he refused to let go.

“Look at me.” His eyes locked onto mine, and stayed with me
even when I tried to remove myself from his hands. He mirrored my movements,
turning his head as I turned mine. “Slow down. Relax. Everything’s going to be
okay. You’re fine. Try a small breath now.”

I gripped his upper arms, hanging on to him out of
desperation and fear that if I let go of this person, this
one
other
person, the earth would spin so fast I would be thrown off the planet and float
away.

“That’s it. One breath, now another.”

Somehow, a squeak of air pushed past the invisible blockage
in my throat and my lungs found a hint of relief. Another tiny breath managed
to follow the first, until I gasped, taking in miniscule sips of oxygen, one
right after another.

“That’s a girl. Take your time. You’ve got it now.”

A word here and there broke through my erratic sobs. “You’re
wrong.”

He tugged me into his arms, holding me against his chest
while his large hand held the back of my head. “For your sake, I hope I am.”

“Here. You need to eat something.” He placed a tray over my
lap before setting a bottle of water and a couple of pills next to a paper bowl
filled with something I couldn’t distinguish, but which smelt an awful lot like
canned dog food. “It’s the best I could come up with, but you need to get
something in you that’s not all just sugary crap. So eat this. It’s got meat
and vegetables. Of course, it’s all coated in fat sauce, but that’s beside the
point.”

I lifted a spoonful and sniffed it, trying to make out the
contents in the muted light. “What is it? It smells awful.”

“Canned stew. Nothing fancy like I said, but much better
than chips and soda, or whatever you’ve been eating lately. I even warmed it up
as best I could over a pine-scented candle, so enjoy.”

I hesitated, but with him sitting across from me, watching
my every move, I managed to slip a bite of goo into my mouth and swallow it. It
wasn’t half bad. “Thanks.”

He pointed his finger at me and winked. “You’re welcome. Eat
up and then get some rest. Looks like tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

I let the spoon hover over the glop. “What
are
we
going to do tomorrow?”

He plumped his stuffed animals and lay against them, seeming
to settle in for the night. “Well, I had planned on pillaging the town and
returning to my lair, but now that you and your cat have decided to come into
the picture and make me a part of your gang and force some morals into me, I
assume we’re going hunting for humans.”

Hunger left me, and I placed the spoon next to the bowl. “I
thought you said there wasn’t anybody left.”

“I know what I said.” He rolled onto his side with his back
facing me. “Doesn’t mean we can’t look.”

“I just want to find my dad, that’s all.”

“Then we’ll do everything we can to find him, but for now,
can you please eat your semi-nutritious dinner and go to sleep? All your girlie
chit-chat is keeping me from getting my eight hours of beauty sleep.”

I stared at his back and settled against the wall, slumping
a little. He annoyed me, and I could hardly wait to be rid of him, but even
though he might be a convicted serial killer or something equally terrifying, I
was grateful I wasn’t alone.

Callie curled up next to him, lying next to his messy head.
Apparently, she was grateful too. It didn’t even bother me that she chose him
over me. I could live with that.

“Hey?” I fixed my blankets. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Seriously?” He rolled over and faced me, careful not to
squish my cat. “You’re not done talking? It’s late, you know?”

“Sorry.”

He positioned Callie near his chest and scratched her back
while keeping his dark eyes on me. “So what’s your question?”

I had almost forgotten what I had wanted to ask as I stared
at him staring at me. “Umm, do you know that you never told me your name or
asked me mine?” We’d been together for several hours now, and I had no idea
what to call him beside the expletives that ran through my mind. But if we were
going to be together for however long it may be, I should probably call him
something other than “the crazy guy.”

“You know, when a guy breaks into a pharmacy and steals
drugs for you and then manages to stitch you up, feed you congealed canned
stew, and make you a sweet bed out of toilet paper and Snuggie blankets, you’d
think you’d ask his name.” He smiled. “But you’re not that kind of person, are
you?”

“I’m not...
what?
That’s not nice! I forgot to ask.”
That
kind of person? What did that even mean?

“If you say so.”

“You’re impossible, you know?” So aggravating. I brought the
blanket up to my chin and rolled over with
my
back facing
him.
“Forget
it. I don’t care what your name is anymore.”