Red Hill (20 page)

Everyone traded glances. I felt the same way. It hadn't occurred to me that it was only a matter of time before we were without power.

Ashley looked to Joey. “How much longer do you think we have?”

“It depends on if the operators and utilities had enough warning to take measures to keep things running for a while,” I said. “I'm pretty sure this area is run by a hydroelectric power station, otherwise we would have been off by now.”

“How do you know all of that?” Miranda asked.

“It's what I do,” I said. “Or what I used to do. If operators had time to isolate key portions of the grid to reduce connections, and then terminate power delivery altogether to areas prone to potential drains, a hydro plant could easily function for weeks or months. In theory, they have an unlimited fuel supply, assuming normal rainfall. We'd basically be waiting for an essential component to fail or wear out.”

“So we should prepare,” Joey said. “We have food, we have weapons, but they won't mean anything if we don't have water.”

“Should we find containers and start filling them?” Cooper asked.

Joey nodded. “That will work for a while, but we'll eventually need something more long-term. We need some kind of a water filtration system.”

Ashley sat at the table. “How much longer is this going to go on? It's not permanent . . . is it? They'll fix it.”

“Who's they?” Joey asked.

“The government,” Cooper said.

Joey shook his head. “We shouldn't assume this is temporary. We should take measures now to . . .”

“I'd just like to know who the fuck died and left you running the show,” Bryce said, cutting Joey off.

“Bryce . . . ,” Miranda said.

“Okay,” I said, holding up my hands. “We're all tired and stressed. I'm sure with the storm last night not many of us got much rest. Bryce, you've got a point. We need to work together and come up with a plan. Joey, you seem like you know what you're talking about. You've had training?”

“He just got back from Afghanistan,” Miranda said. Her input only agitated Bryce more.

“Okay, then,” I said, trying to avoid a scene. “Joey, why don't you look around and see what you can come up with? We'll need to fashion some sort of water-holding cistern, and we'll need to go into town for a hand-pumped water filter, replacement filters, and some purification tablets if we can find them.”

“That's asking a lot,” Miranda said. “You would find all of that at a large camping outlet. The closest one I can think of is over two hours away.”

“I used to watch those preparation shows on TV,” Scarlet said. “They showed someone pouring water through sand once, and then putting cloth at the bottom. Sand is a really good filtration system. There is charcoal out back. We just need a large jug or barrel, gravel, sand, and charcoal and put some cloth at the mouth. Turn it upside down and voila! Water filter . . . that is, in theory.”

“That's a pretty good theory,” I said with a small smile. She smiled back.

“It's still a theory,” Bryce grumbled.

Joey glanced over at Bryce, his jaws working, and then nodded, leaving out the side door.

Miranda glared at Bryce, and then continued making her cereal.

Bryce held out his hands. “What?”

I noticed Scarlet had quietly excused herself to the porch, standing in the same place she had that morning, staring at the road. She wore a man's T-shirt that swallowed her and a pair of navy scrub pants.

“Now I know why the bedroom is a mess,” I teased. “You raided the doctor's wardrobe.”

Scarlet looked down at her haphazard appearance and absently pulled a lock of stray hair behind her ear and then smoothed the rest. “Just the one T-shirt,” she said. “I actually didn't ransack his room. It was like that. I was going to clean it—I actually needed to after I'd cleaned everything else and ran out of things to do—but I decided it was his room, and for some reason I had to leave it the way it was. Maybe for the girls.”

“His girls?”

She nodded to confirm, but soon her eyebrows pulled together and I realized too late my casual question for clarification reminded her of who she was waiting for.

“I can't imagine waiting for Zoe, wondering if she was okay, or if she was coming at all.”

Scarlet laughed once. “You're not helping.”

“But you have to believe that they're coming.”

She closed her eyes and a tear slipped from beneath one of her eyelids. “I do.” She looked at me. “Trust me, I believe it. Andrew was a terrible husband, and to be honest, he wasn't that great of a father, but what he lacked in compassion and patience, he more than made up for in efficiency and sense. He's smart. Quick witted, you know? He could think on his feet. If anyone can get my girls here, to me, it's him.”

“I'm sure you're right.”

She looked down her feet for a moment, fighting a hopeful smile, and then stared back at the road. We stood together in silence, watching the road together, until Zoe called for me. She was playing with small plastic horses, and Cooper was standing over her with a proud smile.

“They were Ashley's.”

I nodded. “That was very kind of you.”

“She reminds me a lot of my little sister.” Cooper looked up at me. “Ashley was majoring in early childhood education. She's good at it. I bet she could work with Zoe a little every day.”

Ashley walked by, on her way somewhere, and reached out for Cooper. Without looking back, he reached his hand behind him, and their fingertips grazed as she walked by. I wasn't even sure how he knew she was coming.

“I can,” she said as she walked through the dining room to the back hallway. Her bedroom was back there somewhere, so I assumed that's where she was headed.

“That will be so good for her. You have no idea. I can't thank you enough.” I said the words to Cooper, even though it was for Ashley. Speaking to one was like speaking to both.

It was odd watching them interact and move about, orbiting each other, like an old couple who'd been married fifty years or more. If reincarnation was possible, these kids had to have found their way to each other again, many times over.

After an hour, Scarlet returned inside. She smiled at Zoe. “Do you have horses?” she asked.

Zoe held up a tiny horse in each hand. “Just these.”

Scarlet nodded her head, her expression absent of condescension. “Better than that bull out there, that's for sure.”

“Butch?” Cooper said. “He's not a bad guy. He's just sick of being cooped up in that pen. You've been feeding him, haven't you?”

“He has hay,” Scarlet said, “and water. I'm worried he's going to attract shufflers, though.”

“Attract what?” Cooper said, chuckling.

Scarlet glanced at me, and then back at Cooper, clearly taken off guard by the question. “Shufflers. I can't call them
zombies,
” she said, rolling her eyes at the word. “Zombies are from Hollywood. Zombies aren't real. Those things need a name that's real.”

“Yeah, but shufflers?” Cooper said, making a face.

“They shuffle!” Scarlet said, mildly defensive.

The conversation had drawn the attention of the rest of the group, and everyone else was congregating in the living room, too.

“I've been calling them sick, or infected,” I said.

“Those things,” Ashley said. Everyone craned their neck in her direction. She shrugged. “That's what I call them:
those things
.”

Miranda crossed her arms. “I can't call them zombies, either. I call them dead ones.”

“Biters,” Joey said.

“I like biters,” Miranda said, nodding.

“Well, I like shufflers. They shuffle,” Scarlet said.

Joey laughed once without humor. “They also bite.”

Scarlet frowned, but everyone seemed to be amused with the conversation.

“I think we should call them cows,” Zoe said, still playing with her horses. “They sound like cows.”

I laughed. “They groan.”

“Hmmm . . . ,” Zoe said, thinking very hard. “What about ted? It rhymes with dead. ‘Oh, no! There is a ted! Hide! Run, Cooper! Shoot the ted, Scarlet!' ” She made all sorts of faces while she acted out the different scenarios in which we might yell
ted
. Everyone was smiling, everyone but Scarlet.

“Why me? Why do I have to shoot the ted?” Scarlet asked.

“Because you're the best shot,” Zoe said.

“I like you,” Scarlet said, smiling only with her eyes.

“I like you, too,” Zoe replied.

Scarlet lifted her arms and let them fall to her thighs. “All right, I'm sold on ted. Anyone disagree?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“Good choice, Zoe,” Cooper said.

Zoe smiled wider than I'd seen in years, and in that moment, it was easy to believe everything was going to be okay.

Chapter Twenty

Nathan

ZOE HAD BEEN SPENDING A
lot of time outside on the porch before and after her studies with Ashley. Scarlet may have inspired her, I couldn't be sure. When Zoe was asked what she was doing, she would barely explain.

“Waiting,” she would say. She alternated between examining her fingers as they rested in her lap and squinting to see beyond the hill.

I'd learned not to ask what she was waiting for. She wouldn't tell me. I worried that she was missing her mother, but if Aubrey wasn't who or what she was waiting for, I didn't want to upset Zoe by bringing it to her attention. I worried that being safe wasn't enough for my daughter. Then again, she seemed happy and hadn't had an episode in over a week, so maybe I was so used to having something to worry about with her that I was overthinking things.

“Zoe?” I said, joining her on the porch. She'd been waiting quietly for nearly half an hour, and Ashley was waiting for her at the table. “Miss Ashley has made up some multiplication flash cards for you to try.”

“I don't really like math,” she said.

I smiled. “I don't really like math, either, but sometimes we have to do things that aren't fun.”

Her expression was thoughtful. “We have to do that a lot.”

“Some days more than others. Are you ready?”

Zoe shook her head. That took me off guard. Zoe had never flat-out told me no before. I wasn't sure how to react.

“Why not?”

She pointed at the road. I turned, seeing a man and a girl just clearing the hill. At first I was startled, but then I realized they weren't sick.

“Is that Scarlet's family?” Zoe asked.

“No. I mean, it doesn't look like them.” The man was very tall and lanky, with his bald spot obvious from and vulnerable to the morning sun. His arms were abnormally long, and the closer they came, the longer they seemed to be.

“Scarlet!” I called, wanting to mentally slap myself the second I yelled her name. Just like I feared, she came running out the door, already breathing hard from hope and anticipation.

“Is it them?” she asked, just as they came running for the farmhouse.

“Oh, God, no, I'm sorry,” I said, feeling like a complete ass.

Scarlet kept her eyes on the pair, swallowing loud as they approached. Her whole body tensed and leaned in such a way that it looked like her heart was breaking on the outside of her body.

I reached out and grabbed her hand, unsure of what else to do.

“Hey,” the man said, holding the girl's hand loosely in his. His head, lips, and nose were badly sunburned, his eyes were sunken, and his cheekbones had just begun to protrude. The girl didn't seem as affected by the elements or hunger as he did, but she didn't lift her eyes from the ground. Even though she was tethered to the man by the hand, she didn't stand close to him.

“I'm Kevin. This is my daughter, Elleny,” he said, breathing hard through his smiling lips.

“Hi, Elleny,” Scarlet said, her smooth mom voice automatic and natural.

When Elleny didn't acknowledge her, Kevin shrugged. “She's been through a lot.”

Scarlet tilted her head. “How old are you, Elleny?”

“She's fourteen,” Kevin said. “Is this your place?”

Scarlet looked at Kevin, and then at me. He was a little weird, but Scarlet and I both knew we wouldn't turn away a child. “Pretty much. There's water and food inside,” she said, gesturing toward the door. “But you'll have to leave your weapon outside.” Scarlet looked down to the fire poker in his right hand.

Kevin wasted no time, laying down the poker and pulling Elleny along with him.

Scarlet showed them around the kitchen while I got Zoe situated at the table with Ashley.

“Who is that?” Ashley whispered.

“Survivors,” I said. “A father and daughter.”

Ashley made a face. I knew what she was thinking. Kevin looked like a skeleton, and Elleny was nearly plump, the baby fat still bulging her cheeks just enough to make her look younger than fourteen. Her green eyes and chestnut hair were opposite Kevin's ice-blue eyes. Her round features stood out from his boney face and pointy nose.

“Zoe doesn't look like me, either.”

“Yes she does,” Ashley said, smiling down at my daughter, who smiled back.

Ashley and Zoe worked on her times tables and read for about half an hour, and then they worked on an old puzzle of Ashley's, putting together all fifty of the United States. Once they were finished, Zoe returned to the porch again.

“So what do you think?” I said to Scarlet. She was cleaning out the refrigerator, throwing away uneaten food.

“This is a goddamn waste, that's what I think.”

“About Kevin.”

“I told him they could sleep in the doctor's bed until we get things figured out. He didn't say if they're staying or going on. I figured you and Zoe could sleep downstairs for now. I didn't really want them down there with all the weapons and supplies. Oh, unless you think that will bother Zoe?”

“No, no. I'll explain it to her. She'll have plenty of time to prepare.” I looked into the living room and saw Elleny sitting alone on the couch. I walked toward the porch to start the process of preparing Zoe for the move, and saw Kevin sitting next to my daughter, side by side, on the top step. He had his arm planted on the porch, a bit behind her.

“Zoe,” I said, opening the door quickly. “I need you inside for a minute. We need to talk.”

Kevin immediately pulled away his hand, but his expression was calm and relaxed. “You got a cute little girl there.”

I nodded, holding the door open for Zoe to pass, and then brought her to Ashley's door and knocked. Ashley opened it and allowed us inside, even though I could tell she was surprised.

“Zoe,” I said, kneeling in front of her. “First, we don't know Kevin, yet, so until I say otherwise, what is he?”

“A stranger,” she said confidently.

“And what is the rule about strangers?”

“We don't talk to them.”

I nodded. “Good girl.”

“I told Kevin the rule, but he said he was a nice man, and he had met you, so he wasn't a stranger.”

This made my stomach turn, although I reasoned that Kevin had a daughter of his own, so maybe he just knew how to talk to children. “Meeting someone and knowing them are different. Until I say it's okay, I don't want you to be alone with Kevin. Deal?”

“Deal,” Zoe said.

Ashley and Cooper were standing next to us in a silent exchange. They would look at each other after certain points of my and Zoe's serious talk, never speaking, but having a conversation, nevertheless.

“Next, I need to tell you that to make room for Kevin and Elleny, you and I are going to move downstairs.”

Zoe made a face, but I was prepared. “I like our room.”

“I do, too. This is just for a little while, and then we can have our room back.”

The skin between Zoe's eyebrows creased.

Ashley kneeled beside us. “Zoe, how about you and I bring your things downstairs and I'll help you decorate it just the way you want?”

Zoe thought about this for a while, and then nodded. She still wasn't happy with the move, but her already agreeing, and without a fight, was momentous. I couldn't hide my appreciation to Ashley, and when we stood, I reached out with one hand and pulled her against my side, pressing my cheek against her hair in a half hug.

Ashley took Zoe to gather her things, and Cooper and I went into the living room where Kevin and Elleny were sharing a sandwich.

“You can make another sandwich,” I said. Kevin was so thin; I couldn't imagine why he wouldn't. Maybe he thought he might overstay his welcome if they ate too much right away.

“We share everything, don't we?” he said, lovingly patting Elleny's thigh.

Elleny didn't speak or react. She just sat next to him, chewing the bite he'd just given her. I wondered if she'd lost her mother or someone else that had made her shut down so completely. Scarlet had been trying to get through to her since they arrived, but Elleny stayed in her own world, blocking everything and everyone out.

That, I somewhat understood. What I didn't understand was Kevin's dismissal of her behavior.

Elleny stayed quiet through dinner, although she ate more than she had earlier, having her own plate to herself. She ate slowly, though, making sure to savor every bite. No one discussed anything that we normally discussed. Somehow everyone knew to protect our house, our secrets, and our family from strangers. Even from a waif of a man and his strange little girl.

Kevin was the first to finish. “Man, I am tired. About what time do you all turn in around here?”

“It depends,” Scarlet said. “You can go ahead.”

Kevin put his hand on Elleny's. “You ready for bed?”

She took another bite.

He patted her hand. “Come on, now. I think you've had enough. Time for bed.”

She scooped up more rice. “I'm still really hungry,” she said, her voice just a breath.

Kevin became annoyed. “You're not that hungry. I'm tired. Let's go to bed.”

Scarlet leaned her elbows on the table. “I realize you don't know us, but Nathan and I are parents. We wouldn't let anything happen to Elleny. Once she's finished, we'll send her that way.”

Kevin's coolness left him for just a moment. “I'll wait.” Elleny took another slow bite, and we all tried not to give in to the ensuing awkwardness.

After another ten minutes, Kevin stood and pulled Elleny up by the arm with him. “You're finished. Let's go.”

Elleny went with him, but reluctantly. “I'm . . . still . . . ,” she said, but he shushed her before she could finish.

They disappeared into the bedroom. Kevin shut the French doors and we all stood up to clean up after dinner.

“That was weird,” Joey said, turning on the faucet.

We all agreed, and tried our best to continue as usual, even with our strange houseguests. Scarlet was scrubbing the plates and pans as if she were trying to work off nervous energy. At one point, the dish she'd just finished crashed into the others. She put the sides of her fists on the counter, took a breath, and then began again.

“Slow down, would ya?” Joey said as he rinsed and dried. “I can't keep up.”

“Sorry,” Scarlet said, still scrubbing with subdued fury.

“What's up?” I said, walking up behind her. My chin was just above her shoulder, but she didn't seem to mind.

“I don't know.”

“You know.”

“There's something off.”

“I agree.”

I walked Zoe downstairs and pulled down her covers while she changed into pajamas. She crawled into bed, and I tucked her in.

“Hum, Daddy.”

One corner of my mouth pulled up. I hadn't hummed to Zoe since before everything went to hell. One reason was that we'd had such full, tense days, she usually fell asleep immediately. The other was because I couldn't carry a tune to save my life. I never hummed anything in particular, I just let my voice go up and down, and somehow that was relaxing enough for Zoe that she'd fall asleep.

I began to hum, and Zoe closed her eyes. I don't know why I kept referring to this time as when the world went to hell. It had its good points. I got to spend all day with my daughter without worrying about work or bills, and I'd met Scarlet. Granted, there were frightening things beyond the perimeter of the ranch, but it could be much, much worse. Some days I thought it a fair trade.

Zoe's breath evened out, and I leaned down to kiss her button of a nose before heading up the stairs. Joey was at the top, sitting on the washing machine. “Scarlet made me a pallet in the living room. I'd feel weird sleeping down there with you guys.”

“Okay,” I said, shaking his hand once. “Sorry, man.”

“No problem.” He jumped off the washer and followed me into the living room. Covers and pillows were spread across the floor, and Scarlet was outside on the porch. Joey sat in the recliner.

I crossed my arms. “I want to go out there with her, but I feel like I crowd her. That's kind of her time, isn't it?” I asked.

Joey smiled. “I think she likes it when you're out there. Maybe that's one of the reasons she keeps going.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “She goes out there because she knows one of these days they'll come walking over the hill.”

“You really think so, man? I don't know. It's been a while.”

“It took me and Cooper all day to get here from Shallot, and we were trucking it. It's not flat ground. There are creeks, and rocks, and hills, and abandoned buildings, and old farm equipment . . . and zombies.”

“Psh . . . ,” Joey teased, waving me away. “You act like that's hard.”

Scarlet came inside, her face white and her eyes full of tears, but she didn't look sad. I was stunned by her expression, and immediately thought it had something to do with the girls. She hadn't spent a fraction of the time she usually spent outside waiting.

“What is it?” I said quietly, taking a step toward her. I didn't want to alarm the pair in the doc's room.

Scarlet's jaws worked, and a tear spilled out over her cheek. “I'm going to kill that motherfucker.”

She walked quickly across the room, grabbed her rifle, and before I could stop her, she barged through the French doors. I began to yell for her to stop, but at the same time I saw her point the gun at the back of Kevin's head, I saw that he was in a totally inappropriate position, hovering over Elleny, without a shirt on.

Elleny was whimpering quietly. It still took me a moment to process what was going on, as if my brain didn't want to believe what my eyes had seen.

“Get up!” Scarlet yelled. “In the front room!
Now
!” Her voice broke when she screamed the last bit.