Autumn in the Dark Meadows (The Autumn Series) (8 page)

I let out a huff resembling laughter.

“I know it’s frustrating to keep stopping like this.  You have no idea how many times I’ve considered taking off and letting Thunder run as hard as he can toward Vegas.  I’d be there in less than an hour at the speed he gallops.”  He paused for a while, then said, “You know we’re all going to get through this, right?” he asked.

I tried to nod into my arms.

“No matter what happens.  We all have each other.  We’re gonna find Connie and Rissi, and they’re going to be okay.”

I nodded into my arms again, not wanting to tell him Grey weighed on my mind almost as heavily as Connie and Rissi.  And I couldn’t tell him about Sarah, not without explaining how I’d retrieved my cell phone from Los Angeles.  So I kept my face buried in my arms and let him gently stroke the dirty hair tumbling down my back.

“You know, you really need to get over whatever it is he did.”

“What?”  I said, and lifted my head, staring up at him in shock.

“Don’t let my devastatingly good looks fool you,” he said.  “I’m a pretty sharp guy, Miss Winters.  You love Grey.  He loves you.  And whatever you’re doing to each other now is making you both miserable.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Maybe not.  But I’d be willing to bet money it’d be a lot easier for you to deal with all this crap if Grey were
here
with you, not huffing and puffing over there, sitting on a rock all by himself.”  He pointed at Grey in the distance, who was indeed sitting on a rock with his back to everyone.

Shad went on.  “You’re going to wake up one day, and you’re gonna realize he’s moved on.  He’ll quit trying to win you back.  And you’ll regret it.  And if there’s anything The Plague taught me, it’s that there isn’t time for regret anymore.”

Shad stroked my hair gently, collecting it in a mass of knots down my back as he spoke.

“He’ll quit riding by the greenhouses on the off chance he might see you; he’ll quit asking Connie how you are; he’ll quit spending his nights riding that deranged horse of his down to the dam.   He’ll move in with some chick, who used to be a showgirl at the Colosseum, become mayor of Hoover, and instigate a bi-weekly parade in his honor where the female citizens will wrestle with each other in a big pool of –”

“Shad,” I interrupted.  He stopped and looked at me.  “I’m all better,” I said.  “You can stop now.”

He patted my back.  “Look, we could all use a reason for a dance, mostly me so I can dance with Tess again.  So if you wouldn’t mind making up with your brooding boyfriend... and go ahead and get married –”

“Point taken, Shad,” I interrupted again.  “But it’s a bit more complicated than that.”

“Pfft.  Nah.”

“You really have no idea.”

“Eh, you’re just being a girl.  Overanalyzing.  Lemme ask you this – do you love him?”

His question was so abrupt and basic, it startled me.  I stared at Grey’s far off figure.  “I thought I did,” I answered.

He nodded, then said slowly, “Seems to me you still do.  But hey, what do I know about love, right?”

I chuckled and wiped my cheeks, surprised to see mud from my tears mixing with the dirt on my face.

“You look disgusting,” Shad said, cringing and leaning away from me.  “No wonder Grey ran away.  You’re turning into an ogre.”

I laughed and tried to clean off my face, but my dirty bandana only seemed to be making it worse.

“Here, Ogre, I have some clean shirt left just for you,” Shad said, offering me his mostly clean shirttail.

We were silent for a few minutes and then I said, “Do you really want to be mayor of Hoover, Shad?”

He raised an eyebrow.  “How did you know I was talking about myself?”

“The Colosseum showgirl,” I responded, and he smiled.  “How are you doing?  With Connie and all?”

His smile faded, and he looked off into the direct of Vegas.  “Doing my best, I suppose.  Be a whole lot better when we find her safe and sound.”

“Yeah,” I said, picturing her and Rissi, healthy, and waving and smiling at us as we entered Vegas.

“You eaten?” he asked.

I shook my head, and he stood, pulling me to my feet.  We walked over to the rest of the group, standing among the horses behind the windscreen.  Sam was sitting on the ground, her back up against the mesquite tree with her foot propped up on a saddle.  She looked up when we appeared.

“Did you guys see Grey over there?  He said he was going to get some aspirin for me, and he hasn’t come back yet.”

“Um, yeah,” I stammered.  “He’s looking, but he might not have any.”

She said, “Oh, well, that’s okay.  I’m fine anyway.”  She reached her hands behind her head, arching her back as she stretched.  I noticed Ben’s eyes flick away quickly after grazing across the good half foot of bare, tanned stomach Sam exposed as she stretched.

“Grey doesn’t have aspirin?”  Ben asked.  “Seems like he should’ve packed that.”

“He’s just having a hard time finding some stuff,” I said, trying to downplay it.

Shad offered me a bag of trail mix, and I grabbed a handful.

“You look like you’re about to fall over, Autumn,” Sam said, patting the saddle in front of her.  “Why don’t you sit down?”

“Oh, I’m okay.  Thanks, though,” I replied.  When she continued to look at me, I added, “I’ve been sitting on one of those for long enough today.  Feels good to stand.”

I grabbed another handful of trail mix from Shad and looked around.  “Where’s the water jug?  I need to refill my canteen.”

“It’s right here,” Sam said.  It was like she knew I was trying to avoid her.

I grabbed the canteen hanging from my saddle and walked over to her.  The jug was heavy and slippery with condensation.  I wedged my canteen between my feet and picked up the jug.  When Sam saw what I was doing, she grabbed the canteen and held it up for me.

I gritted my teeth and managed a thank you when it was full.  I was about to turn away when she quietly said my name.  I looked down at her.

“I know we haven’t really gotten a chance to talk yet, but I think we should.  I don’t really get the impression you’re happy to see me.”

I almost laughed out loud.  Why would I be happy to see her?  This girl had lied to me, chased me, tried to turn my friends and me over to Karl, and was a genuine threat to everyone I loved.

“Well, I guess I don’t understand why you’re here,” I said.

“We’re a lot more alike than you think,” she said, watching me intently, as if she were waiting for me to get it.

I resisted the urge to list the reasons why this statement was untrue, though I was curious why
she
thought we were so alike.

“I came here because I wanted to be safe.  Because I want to be around normal, non-brainwashed people.  Because I want to try to get back to life how it was before The Plague.  And because Karl is one messed-up, psycho, head case.”

I was intrigued to hear her call Karl a head case.  But something else she said caught my attention more.  “Brainwashed people?” I repeated.

Sam nodded.  “You know, like from history class.  Brainwashed groups doing what their leaders tell them to do?  I know it sounds crazy, but it’s like Karl has the same kind of thing going on.”

I wanted to go sit down on the other side of the group, but thought Sam might leave me alone in the future if she got some things off her chest.

Sam went on.  “You know, after I left Karl, I stopped by my old apartment.  The one I lived in before The Plague.  My little sister and my mom’s boyfriend were still there, where I’d left them.”  She looked up at me.  “You lived in The Water Tower, right?”

I nodded.

“What did you do with your family’s bodies?” she asked quietly.

I couldn’t say anything.  I was surprised it hadn’t even occurred to me what the immune people around me must have gone through.  Seeing their moms or dads, brothers or sisters, children, neighbors, best friends and lovers die before them and not be able to do anything.  Watching a person die must be the worst thing in the world, I thought.  Watching them pass through to the unknown blackness that waits for them.  Holding their hand and feeling them weakly squeeze back, as what makes them “them” slowly leaks out, until the hand you hold reduces to just that, a hand.

I didn’t have to go through that.  My mother and father died far away from me, where I couldn’t watch their eyes dim.  It was as if their final parental act had been sparing me from that horror.

I realized Sam was watching me intently again.  “My parents died before they could come home.”  My voice cracked slightly on the last word.  “How old was your sister?” I asked.

“Ruby was seven,” she whispered.  I could barely hear her over the gusting wind and the snap of the billowing tarp.  An image of Rissi when I’d first met her filled my mind.  Dark brown curls and dirty feet.  Big eyes and a smile to match.

Sam drew up her uninjured leg and wrapped her skinny arms around her knee.  “My mom took off a few days before The Plague showed up.  I was waiting for her to leave again.  It was kind of inevitable.  But whatever, she left, and Tim was there.  He was okay.  Of all my mom’s boyfriends, I guess I trusted him the most.  Ruby got sick first, the afternoon The Plague appeared, then Tim got sick later that night.  Ruby died just as the sun came up the next day.”

I recalled that very same sunrise.  I was sitting on my kitchen floor and realizing I was alone.  That I’d never see my parents again.  That Sarah was gone.  That everything I knew was gone.

Without warning, a tear streaked down my cheek, and I swiped it away quickly. Sam had tears in her eyes, too.  She looked at me and laughed suddenly, startling me.

“I didn’t know what to
do
with them!” she exclaimed through her tears.  “I couldn’t believe my biggest problem wasn’t that my mom had just taken off and left me and my seven-year-old sister with an ex-heroin addict.  My biggest problem was that I had two dead bodies I didn’t know what to do with!  Who was I, Tony Soprano?”

I laughed despite myself

“And then I met Karl.  I was at a drug store, looking for food, and he was just suddenly there at the end of the dark aisle, staring at me.  He scared the hell out of me, even though he was just standing there.  I didn’t hear him walk in or anything.  And I hadn’t seen anyone since the outbreak.  It had been two whole weeks, and I thought I was the only person left in the world.”

She rolled her eyes and said, “I actually thought he might be God or Jesus or whoever, come to collect me.”  She paused, and then she said, “He was... so... striking.”  She bobbed her head with each of the last two words to emphasize them.

I sat down and stretched my feet out in front of me.  It felt good to sit, despite what I’d said earlier about standing.

“I had never seen anyone quite like him before.  I really thought I was going crazy.  But he took me with him.  He knew what to do.  Where to go.  He had answers, and I listened to every word he said.”

She scooted toward me suddenly, as if she were about to tell me a secret, and she said quietly, “You know how sometimes power can be a turn on?  Like a girl will get a crush on a teacher or a friend’s dad or something, just because he’s got some kind of authority?”

I nodded.  Sarah had a crush on our history teacher, who, I’d had to admit, was pretty cute.

“I think that’s what happened to me,” Sam said, staring right at me.  “I fell in love with him, because he was so commanding.  He always knew the answers, and everyone looked to him to tell them what to do.  The power he had, the way everyone adored him... it was intoxicating.”  Sam touched her cheek with the palm of her hand.

With a sinking feeling, I realized I’d felt the same way with Grey.  His strong presence and unassailable personality drew me to him.  He made me feel safe again.

“I think I know what you mean,” I said.

“That guy, Grey, is pretty special, too, isn’t he?” she asked.

My eyes flicked up at the word “special.”  I didn’t want to talk about Grey with her, so I pressed her to continue her story.

“So what happened to make you want to leave Karl?”

“I walked in on him with another girl,” she said simply.

My mouth opened slightly.  So they actually had been romantically involved.  He had to be fifteen years older than Sam.

“I’m sorry.  To walk in on him kissing another girl when you trusted him –”

Sam cut me off.  “Oh, they weren’t kissing,” she said bluntly.

I looked up at her, shock showing plainly on my face.

“Yeah,” she said in a dry voice.  “Karl was my first.  He told me I was the only one he was seeing.  He also told me he loved me and would do anything for me.”  She looked into the darkness toward Las Vegas.  After a lengthy pause, she said bitterly, “I know better now.”

I thought of Grey and couldn’t help but imagine walking in on him with Lydia.  A cold splinter of loneliness pierced me, and I took a deep breath, swearing to myself I wouldn’t think that way again.  It was too much to handle.  Grey hadn’t betrayed me like that.  He had withheld vital information, but he’d always protected my heart.  Deep down, I knew I would always be safe with him.

The angry words I’d thrown at him earlier replayed in my mind.  “I don’t expect anything from you anymore.”

Ah, hell.

I squeezed my irritated eyes shut, and my head sagged on my knees.  A small hand touched my shoulder.

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to upset you.  I know you went through a lot, being hunted by Karl for so long.”

It seemed to take a lot of effort to lift my head.  I wiped my nose and said in as level a voice as I could muster, “Seems like you went through a lot worse than I did.”

“It wasn’t hell when he loved me.”

I understood that all too well.  I nodded.  And we were silent together until a burst of light from the west startled me.  I stood up, staring at the beam shooting into the low moving clouds.

“It’s the light from the Egyptian!”  I pointed at the light, as the group around me scrambled to their feet.  A cheer went up among our camp, and fresh tears stung my dry eyes.  Finally, a sign of life.

As we rode into town, the light from the Egyptian shone like a beacon in the predawn haze, and the closer we got, the more magnificent it became.  Most of the once frantically lit city was now dark, making the beam from the pyramid stand out more.  The quick trot of our horses suddenly didn’t seem fast enough.  Both Snicket and I felt the urgency crackling in the dry desert air.

I knew a little about the history of the Vegas settlement from what Connie told me.  She had incorporated a new segment into her teaching plan called “Post-Plague History.”  She was determined to preserve as much knowledge as possible about the events following The Plague.  She’d painstakingly interviewed everyone in Hoover, collecting first-hand accounts and documenting them all in a homemade history book.

Las Vegas felt sad and deserted compared to the bustling, new energy of Hoover.  The once-luxurious resorts stood broken and hollow, like fragile sandcastles, their previous luster scoured away by the year of unnaturally harsh storms.  Massive dunes drifted up against some of the hotels like snow banks, the wind spiraling loose sand off their sharp crests.

I was thankful that we wouldn’t have to climb many of these dunes to reach the Egyptian, which was near the south end of the Strip.  The dune sand was loose and almost impossible for the horses to climb.  JR and Josh labored behind us with the wagons, forced to travel around the base of the dunes.

When we got close enough to see the black pyramid better, my mouth fell open.  The amount of damage was striking.  Here, Las Vegas Boulevard was buried at least ten feet deep, and the legs of the large Sphinx sitting above the entrance were half-buried in sand.  The only evidence of what used to be roads was the barren expanse between the hotels with the occasional traffic light sticking up out of the sand.

A dark patch on the side of the black glass pyramid caught my eye, and I blinked.  There was a gaping hole high up on the side of the Egyptian.  Jagged black glass sparkled against bright generator-powered lights, and a huge pole protruded from the massive opening.  It was mesmerizing, like the set of a disaster movie my mother worked on when I was younger.  I told myself then it wasn’t real, there was no reason to be scared.  But this was real, and the sight of it made my stomach churn.

“They’re in there somewhere,” I managed to say.

“Not for much longer,” Ben said.  I hadn’t heard him ride up beside me.  Sam still sat perched in front of him.  “We’re gonna get them out.”  He looked over at me, determination painted on his face.

“They’re okay.  I feel it,” I said before taking a deep breath to settle my nerves.  “They’ve got to be.”

We urged our horses into a gallop, and the Egyptian loomed larger.  Soon, a man ran to meet us and directed our group to a temporary corral set up next door at Camelot Casino.  I glanced up at the colorless turrets and the tattered flags snapping in the wind.  I was glad to see the light in the eastern sky slowly spreading.  It would be easier to work in the daylight.

We entered the crowded corral, and I dismounted. I looked around as I unstrapped my backpack full of personal items. The amount of horses this town had was staggering, at least three times as many as Hoover. How had they acquired so many? I wondered if some of them were performing horses in the shows here before The Plague.

“Autumn?”

I turned to find Grey standing a few feet behind me.  He wore a large backpack and held another smaller one in his hands.  Two more duffels lay at his feet.  Probably full of medical supplies.

We stared at each other for several moments.  Grey opened his mouth, and then closed it.  He looked so pained.  I almost reached out to comfort him, but then remembered his hurtful comments and stood still, waiting.

He took a step closer to me.  “Autumn, I owe you an apology.  For so many things...”

“Grey, stop.”  I held up my hands.  He had taken a few more steps, closing the gap between us.  At my interruption, he stopped sharply, and his face whitened as if I’d stabbed him in the heart.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound so harsh,” I said softly.  “I just meant to stop apologizing.  It’s hardly
all
your fault.”  My voice wavered.  “But we don’t have time for this right now.  All that matters is getting inside that pyramid.  The stuff between you and me, well... we can get to all that later.  I promise.  Right now, too many people are counting on us.”

I took a deep breath to steady myself.  It was all catching up to me.  My terror over Connie and Rissi, my exhilaration and worry over Sarah, my frustrations over Grey, and my overall exhaustion.

Grey nodded, then handed me the smaller of the two backpacks.  “You mind taking this?  We’ll need it.”  I agreed and took the bag.  Then Grey’s attention was caught by something behind me.  I turned and saw a man running toward us at full speed.  Seeing his bright red hair glint in the morning light made my heart leap.

“Daniel!”  I yelled and ran to meet him.  He scooped me up into a massive bear hug when we met.  “Where’s Rissi?!  And Connie?!  Are they okay?  Are you okay?  We came as fast as we could!”

“Rissi’s fine.”  Daniel looked at Ben and smiled.  “She’s fine, Ben.  Not even a scratch.”

I dropped my arms from Daniel and replaced them around Ben, hugging him tightly with relief.

“I knew she’d be okay.  That little girl is stronger than all of us,” Ben said, hugging me back.

Daniel continued, “She’s inside, probably still asleep.”

“And Connie?”  Shad’s voice strained.  “She’s okay, too, right?”

Daniel sighed heavily and looked at Shad.  “I think she’ll be okay,” he said heavily.  “Grey will have to tell us for sure, though.”

“What do you mean?” Shad grabbed Daniel’s shoulder, his face pinched with terror. I’d never seen Shad so earnest. After The Plague had taken his mom and sisters, he’d met Connie, and she’d taken him in as a son. I didn’t know if Shad would be able to take the blow of losing her. I didn’t know if I could either.

“I’m sure she’ll be okay,” Sam interjected to no acknowledgement.

Grey moved closer to Daniel and spoke.  “Tell us what happened, and then get me inside,” he said, shouldering a backpack and two medium-sized duffels full of medical equipment.  Daniel waved for us to follow him and began leading us toward the south side of the pyramid.

“There was a helicopter on the roof of the hotel next to the Egyptian.”  He pointed to the tower looming over the pyramid, glowing gold in the rising sun.  “During the storm it was blown off the roof and into the side of the Egyptian, taking out the walkway that connects the two hotels and destroying most of the side of the pyramid itself.  The fuselage of the chopper fell through to the top level of the casino floor inside the pyramid and must have hit some gas pipes or something, because the crash created a huge fire ball inside where people were taking shelter.”

We were closer to the side entrance now, and we struggled through loose sand, sinking ankle deep with each step.  I looked up at the Egyptian again, realizing the long pole sticking out of the crash site was the helicopter’s rotor blade.

Impatient, Shad said, “So, what happened to Connie?”

“She was burned,” Daniel said.  “But not nearly as badly as some of the others.”

“Oh God,” I breathed.

“The burns cover most of one leg from the waist down.  She’s in a lot of pain.” Daniel looked away quickly.

Shad’s pace quickened, the shovels in his arms clanging together with every hasty step.  His jaw was set, and his eyes were fixed on the hotel before us.

“Connie was a real hero, though,” Daniel said, turning back to us, his blue eyes bright and damp.  “She saved at least three children’s lives, including Rissi’s.  Tossed them under a craps table when the helicopter hit and the fire rained in.  She barely had time to take cover herself.”  Daniel paused, his voice shaded with anger.  “I should have been there.”

“Where were you?” I asked.

“I was at McCarran Airport.  The plane needed an oil change.  I had to ride out the storm in the hanger.”

“You couldn’t have known something like that was going to happen, Daniel,” I said.

“But it did,” he replied crisply and then turned to Grey.  “Please help her.”

Grey nodded.  “She’ll be okay, Daniel.”

I stared wide-eyed at the gaping hole in the black glass, now clearly visible.  The thought of Connie laying somewhere, hurting and waiting for us, was horrific.

“Let’s go.”  Grey nodded, staring at the wreckage.

We joined the few from Vegas at the base of the pyramid on the south side, where there was a small alley between the Egyptian and the adjacent casino and the sand drifts piled against the exterior glass walls were the lowest.  Men and women stood in rows in front of the debris, breaking it down with pickaxes and sledgehammers, while others attempted to shovel away the massive dune covering the main entrance to the hotel.  A system of horses and mules towed away overflowing wagons of rubble and sand.

Daniel introduced us to a man in his fifties, sporting a full beard streaked with gray.  He wore big, wire-rimmed glasses, and he held his shoulders back proudly, giving an impression of authority that juxtaposed the feather jutting out of his cowboy hat.

 “I’m Franklin.”  He reached out and shook mine and Grey’s hands hurriedly.  “Guess you could call me the big noise around here.”  Franklin’s voice was warm and deep.  “Thank God you guys made it.  I wasn’t sure if any of our SOS’s made it to you.”

“We didn’t get a radio transmission.  One of your riders made it to us, a young boy named Matt,” Josh replied, re-situating a pile of shovels resting in his arms.

“Well, God bless him.”

“He had some burns from the wind and sand, but aside from that and exhaustion, he’s fine.  He’s resting at our medical facility in Hoover,” Grey told Franklin.

“You the doctor?” he asked.  Grey nodded, and Franklin skeptically eyed him.  “You say so, kid.”

“Kathy and JR have medical training as well.”  He pointed to the pair bringing up the rear with another load of supplies.

“All right.  We’ll need to get y’all inside as quickly as possible then.  We got patients waiting on you.  Rest of you should start working on the side entrance.  The inside of the casino is pretty trashed, so we need to get a ground level exit clear to get the wounded out of there and to our med facility down the street,” Franklin instructed.

“Sounds good,” Grey said.

“The two folks we had with medical training weren’t so lucky in the accident,” Franklin said.  “So you’re the best we’ve got.”

Grey nodded.

“I’m coming too,” I piped up.

“No sense going in if you don’t have to.  We need all the strong backs we can get out here excavating,” Franklin said.

“I’m going in, too,” Shad interjected.  “I had first aid training last year when I was a lifeguard."

“I can dig,” Ben said.  “As long as you’ll let Rissi know I’m here?” Ben asked me.  I nodded and squeezed his hand.

“Daniel said she’s asleep right now anyway,” I assured him.  “As soon as she wakes up, I’ll get a message out to you, somehow.”

“I can start digging, too,” Josh said.  He began passing out shovels to those around him.

“And what about you?” Franklin looked at Sam.  “Inside or outside?”

Sam eyed the cracked glass and rotor blade sticking out of the pyramid, and I could feel the exhaustion in her skinny legs.  If she’d been one of us, I would have suggested she rest the ankle she hurt on the way here, but I kept silent.  Sam tucked a limp lock of blonde hair behind one ear and said, “I suppose I’ll dig.”

Franklin nodded an approval, then sternly eyed the rest of us.  “I wish you others would stay outside.”

Grey stepped in, addressing Franklin.  “Sounds like I’ll have my hands full in there.  Autumn and Shad can help with minor wounds while Kathy and JR help me with the most critical.”

“You’re the doc, doc.”

“We should have made Lydia come along,” I said to Grey.

He grimaced at the sound of her name.  “I’m afraid that would have been impossible.”

I waited for him to explain, but he didn’t.

“Where’d all the gas for the generators come from?” Ben asked.

“Leftover from the gas riots,” Franklin said.  “We keep our stores in a few tankers out behind the Egyptian, in the parking deck.  Normally we wouldn’t use generators, but as you can see, our situation is pretty dire.  Figured this warranted a few gallons.”  He motioned to the sand dunes piled up against the pyramid’s base, and the gaping hole in the glass right above our heads.

Sam took a step back when she looked up and steadied herself against a rumbling generator.  It was dizzying looking up the sloping, sleek black glass to the cloudy, early morning sky behind it.

“It’s probably not a good idea to keep all of your gas in one place,” Grey said.

“Yeah, we’ve been clearing another couple parking garages so we can spread it out, but for now, the dig takes priority,” Franklin said.  “I’ll show your team how to get in.  Gotta be careful though.  It ain’t no cake walk.  We don’t want to add any of you to the wounded list.”

We followed Franklin past the generators and lights, and finally stopped at a rope coiled at the base of the pyramid.

“Only way in right now’s through the hole you see up there,” Franklin said, motioning to the jagged opening above us.

“Through the wreckage?” I questioned.  I hadn’t anticipated having to climb up the side of the enormous building to get inside.

“We’re working round the clock to clear the middle entrance on this side, but for now, only the daring are climbing around the wreckage and rappelling down the glass walls to get outside. Real pain in the ass. Damned helicopter took out the above-ground tunnel that attaches this hotel to the Hanauma Bay Hotel across the street. We’ll have an entrance clear soon enough, but we only just got the excavation process started a few hours ago. For now, this is the only way in.”

I studied the rope stretching between the ground and the entrance above us.  It wasn’t straight up.  It was closer to a forty-five degree angle, though I didn’t like the thought of sliding back down if my grip on the rope wasn’t tight enough.