Apocalypse Atlanta (94 page)

“Where was this?”

“Afghanistan.”

“I don’t understand . . . what kind of private security works in Afghanistan.”

He chuckled briefly.  “You know, like what I do now.  Or did, I guess.  Who knows if careers have meaning any more.”

“Mercenaries?”

“There’s a lot of international political baggage to that term, but basically, yeah.  Mercenaries, worked for one of the big British outfits.  They were doing it basically for cost, and partially for humanitarian reasons.”

Jessica considered.  “Partially?” she asked after a moment.

“Well yeah.  I mean, I knew a couple of the guys on that team from before they mustered out and went to work for the Brits, and I know a lot more of them now, and trust me, a lot of those guys were there because they liked the buzz of being in combat.  But they liked getting paid for it even more, and these gigs pay very well.  Or, I guess they did.”

He was silent a moment, then shrugged.  “Also I’m told the company got certain tax benefits for doing things like that; it effectively let them write off the entire cost of everything associated with the contract, so they got training and advertising basically for free.”

Jessica shuddered.  She couldn’t imagine considering something like combat as mere training.  It made no sense to her.  “So what was the problem, for you, then?”

“Like I said, my CO didn’t like that I’d helped them.  He demoted me, started trying to get a court martial to sit to consider a DD on me.”

“DD?”

“Dishonorable discharge.” Austin said as he curved around to follow the road north.

“On what grounds?”

“Bullsh– stupid ones.  But he had friends who were helping him pull strings, and there was no guarantee I wouldn’t go down for something no matter how stupid it might have been.”

“So how does that lead back to Tyler Morris and why you didn’t leave?” Jessica asked, a little confused over this story.

“Well from that point it’s pretty simple actually.  Mr. Morris heard what was happening from some contacts of his and got in touch with me with an offer.  I decided to accept rather than roll the dice fighting an uphill battle.”

“That must have been some offer.”

Austin grinned.  “Not really.  He offered me the chance to have all the training and combat I could stand, and to give me top notch pay and benefits.  And he didn’t lie about a single bit of it either.”

“So you stayed because Tyler gave you a job?”

“I guess you could say that.  But the way I see it, Mr. Morris gave me a fair deal when I was in the process of getting shafted.  A DD would’ve made it almost impossible for me to get hired to anything like what I did in the 75th – no National Guard or police or private security, h– heck a DD would basically blackball me from most rent-a-cop positions too.

“Effectively I would’ve been back to square one with no options but to try and work up some career ladder somewhere against people ten and fifteen years younger than me.”

“I suppose I can see why you’d feel indebted.”

“It’s a little more than that I guess, but that’s a big part.  The rest is Mr. Morris is a honorable guy, a good boss.  He doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk too.  He wasn’t ever an operator, but he doesn’t treat us like idiots or knuckle draggers either.”

“Is that common?

Austin laughed.  “You have no idea how many people we work for, the companies who pay us, as well as the clients who pay for us, who think we’re incapable of wiping our own– uh, of walking and chewing gum at the same time.”

Jessica grinned.  “Well I don’t think that.”

“Most kind.”

“Do you have any gum?” Candice asked.  “I’d like some if you do, please.”

“Afraid not girlie girl.” Austin said.  “Best I can offer are energy bars or MREs.”

“What are those?”

“The bars are like granola, and the MREs are sort of like microwave dinners that don’t need a microwave to cook them.”

Jessica looked back to see Candice wrinkling her nose, and laughed.  “You don’t need anything to eat right now anyway Candy Bear.  We’re not stopping for the bathroom, remember.”

“I know, that’s why I was hoping for some gum.”

Jessica gave Candice a mild version of ‘the look’, though she left off the finger.  Candice sat back with a set expression, not exactly pouting, but definitely feeling at least a little bit put out.  She settled for looking out the window though, and Jessica turned back to Austin.

“Well, I appreciate everything you’re doing, and I hope you’ll let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.” Jessica told him.

“Come on now, don’t be like that.  You’re helping me as much as I’m helping you.”

“How do you figure?”

He grinned.  “It’s either talk to you or listen to the radio, and I’m tired of hearing nothing but bad news.  We’re to the point where I don’t need the news to tell me how bad it is.  I can just look around and see it for myself.”

Jessica glanced down, out of her window, as they wove around a figure crawling across the pavement.  It seemed to be trying to grab at the vehicle’s wheels.  She was sure this was a stupid idea because she could see it had been hit or run over, or both, already.  One of its legs was showing splintered bone that stuck through flesh and pants alike.  She shuddered and looked away.

“What’s wrong?” Austin asked.

She hesitated, then smiled when she heard the strong undertone of confidence in his voice.  He sounded ready to handle anything.

“Nothing.  Just praying for a safe trip down state.”

* * * * *

Darryl stepped out of the bathroom carrying a bundle of clothes and his boots in both hands, with the wet towel he’d used to dry off after the shower draped around his neck.  Tiny was there waiting in the hallway and nodded as he stepped past Darryl, locking the bathroom door behind himself.

Feeling refreshed after his shower – but still a little out of sorts after having been forced to sleep, then get up and stand guard, then go back to sleep again – he went barefoot down the hallway to the kitchen.  When he got there, he took one look inside and abruptly decided he was not going in.

“Uh, Jody.” he called hesitantly.  The kitchen was a whirl of activity.  Every counter, and both sides of the so called dining table, was occupied by someone who was mixing or stacking or otherwise preparing some food item or another.  Whatever they were doing, it smelled wonderful, but they also looked busy as hell.

“Damn DJ, you looking extra fine.” Monique cooed.

Darryl resisted the urge to scowl.  She was still playing a hard press with just about any of the Dogz she could get to stand still long enough for her to say something to.  And a few who kept moving.  He wasn’t in the mood, but he also wasn’t in the mood for a fight.

“What’s wrong?” Jody asked, turning from the sink where she was doing something under the faucet.

“This shirt, it too small.” Darryl said, holding up the shirt that had been in the stack of clean clothes he’d been given shortly after awakening.

“Hmm.  Well, it ain’t cause you too fat, that much I can see.” Jody said, shaking her hands over the sink to get rid of a film of water that clung to them.  Darryl shrugged.  He wasn’t particularly modest about his body, especially when it came to women, but usually when a woman looked at him half naked it was because she was on her way to being naked herself.

“Come on, let’s get you one that won’t rip apart at the seams.” Jody said.

“You mean one that’ll fit over them firm shoulders of his.” Monique called as Jody went past Darryl and he turned to follow her.

“Damnit, I wish she’d quit that.” he muttered.

He’d intended the comment to himself, just as a way to vent a little, but Jody answered without pausing as she went down the hall toward the bedrooms.  “She’s scared of being alone.  Don’t mind her unless you don’t want to be alone either.”

Darryl stopped in the doorway of the first bedroom, which Jody had gone into.  The bed and little end table that had been in here were gone, replaced with stacks of neatly folded clothing.

“What you mean?” Darryl asked as Jody bent to a pile of shirts.

“What the size on that one you got there?”

Darryl looked at the tag on the t-shirt they’d given him.  Annoying though Monique was being, she hadn’t been wrong.  He wasn’t fat, and the shirt was way too narrow across the shoulders.  He might have squeezed into it, but odds were it was going to split pretty quick.  “Uh . . . this a XL.”

“How small is it?”

“Too small.”

“No, damnit.” Jody sat back on her heels, then shook her head.  “I’m sorry DJ.  I’m just busy.  I mean, how ‘too small’ is that shirt?” she asked contritely.

“Pretty small.” Darryl said, not sure exactly how to answer her.  “I can barely get my arms through the sleeves.”

“Hmm, let’s try a 3XL then.”  Jody went back to looking through the pile of clothes.  “What were you asking me?”

“Why she scared?  Or, I guess, what she scared of?”

Jody sighed.  “She afraid that since she a ex without no kids she might get kicked out if Bobo change his mind about who can stay.”

Darryl blinked.  “Why she think that?”

Jody paused midway down the stack, double checking the tag, before she pulled it out of the pile.  “Like I said, she just scared.”  She shook the shirt out and held it up in front of Darryl’s chest.  “Hmm, see if this fit.”

“Uh . . . where the dirty clothes going?” Darryl asked, wondering what to do with the bundle in his hands.

“You care if you get the same ones back or not?” Jody asked.

Darryl considered briefly.  “Naw, they ain’t nothing special.”

“They go in here then.” Jody said, lifting the lid on a garbage can.  It looked brand new, and Darryl saw it was half full with other clothes.

“We throwing them out?” he asked as he dumped everything in his hands except the too-small shirt and his boots into the can.

“Naw, but if you want the same ones to come back then I was gonna write your name on them.” Jody said, dropping the lid back down and pulling a silver sharpie marker out of her pocket to show him.  “Bobo said we might see about finding a washing machine or something if things calm down.  Otherwise we’ll be washing by hand.”

“Alright.”  Darryl put the boots down on the lid of the clothes can and pulled the shirt over his head.  It was a little scratchy, but it was brand new so that was to be expected.  It was black, which he liked, but there was a big generic picture of a gray wolf posing in front of a moonlit forest, which he liked less.  But it was clean, which was important, and it fit properly, which was the key as far as he was concerned.

“How that?”

Darryl twisted at the waist, swinging his arms back and forth across his body experimentally.  “Yeah, better.  Thanks.”  The shirt was still a touch snug across the shoulders, but he was used to that, and it wasn’t enough to be a problem.

“You know, Monique not wrong.” Jody said.

Darryl picked up his boots and gave Jody a curious look.  “About what?”

“You do look pretty fine.” Jody said, smiling faintly.  “Maybe in a few days, if we get things settled down some and find a routine we all get used to . . . maybe you and me could spend a little time together.”

His initial reaction was to say no, but he held his tongue, not wanting to hurt her feelings.  As he did, he looked her up and down.  Jody was a curvy woman, and not too short.  He towered over most women, but she was tall enough that she was just short, not dwarfed, next to him.  Her eyes met his with a fairly neutral look, though there was a flicker of something in them he couldn’t quite place.

“How long until things get settled?” Darryl heard himself ask.

Jody shrugged.  “Maybe a couple of days.  Depends on if people kick up a fuss or not.”

Darryl gave her another look, then smiled.  He almost felt like it was a fully genuine one.  “Well, ain’t none of us going nowhere.  Let’s see how it go.”

“I gotta get back in there or lunch ain’t never gonna get done.” Jody said, slipping past him.  She did brush against him as she went by though, and allowed one hand to trail briefly across his biceps.  Her touch left him before he even thought to flex his arm to its best effect.

“Damn.” he muttered after she was gone.  He shook his head after a couple of seconds and pulled his boots on one at a time while standing there, then went back down the hallway without bothering to tie them.

The backyard was again serving as a gathering point.  The fresh air was nice, as was the chance to not be packed inside next to everyone else.  So far the air conditioning was still running because the power hadn’t failed, but he knew if the power went there’d be a lot of outside time being clocked whenever possible.

He traded nods with a few people and claimed a vacant chair, dragging it closer to the main grouping that seemed to be near the fire pit.  He did note, darkly, nearly everyone was sitting on the far side of the fire pit, away from the house, and away from where all the deaths had been the previous day.  The grass in those areas was already turning yellow from the bleach that had been poured on it.