Until We End (12 page)

I closed my eyes and held the sound close, pretending it was Coby. But when I opened them again, Didgy was looking right at me. Something about the set of his eyes and mouth, the way he frowned as he stared, set him apart from Coby in a way nothing else could. I'd worked hard to make sure that Coby got his childhood, play dates and fishing and happiness. The expression on Didgy's face told me he'd never had anything like that.

Romeo caught the look and his eyes flicked between us. He said, “Cora, this is our resident genius, Didgy. As in,
Pro-Di-Gy
. Feel me?”

I smiled at Didgy, hoping he would smile back. He didn't. “Nice to meet you,” I said.

“Didgy's studying the virus,” Romeo continued. “Trying to figure out a way to kill it. That right, Didgy?”

“No,” he said. His voice was like a needle-prick in my heart. It was flat, dispassionate — not a voice that a child should have.

“Well, he's doing some shit like that.” Romeo chuckled and gave Didgy a playful shove.

“Patterns,” Didgy cut in, scooting away from Romeo. “I'm
observing.
Trying to find patterns.” The look Didgy shot Romeo was impatient; the kind of expression a parent would give a misbehaving toddler. I barely held back a laugh. Romeo was four times bigger and had to be twice as old as Didgy, and yet Didgy was acting like the authority figure.

Brooks stepped closer to them. “Have you found any patterns?”

“No,” the kid said. He stood and turned his back to us, clasping his hands behind him. I shuddered. The gesture belonged on someone three times his age. It didn't fit.

“Have you found anything at all?” I asked.

Didgy flexed his hands behind his back, then released them and turned to face us. “An incubation period.”

Lu leaned forward in her seat, and when she spoke, her voice was sharp. “Really? How long is it?”

Didgy's gave a careless shrug. “Not sure. Long. Can't trace it.” He may have been more mature than his years suggested, but his face said he knew more than he was saying. Lu caught it, too.

“Take a guess,” she said. Her tone was harsh, sharp, and the glare she was giving to Didgy matched it. Romeo sat up a little.

“Whoa, whoa,” he said, his brows knit together in a frown. “Curb the attitude. Didgy doesn't have to tell you anything that he doesn't want to, got it?”

Didgy acted like Romeo hadn't said anything. “Between four and six weeks, I think,” he said, meeting Lu's stare with a fierce glare of his own. “But without proper equipment, I can't know for sure. So what does it matter?” Didgy's voice cracked on the last word and his eyes shone. The air left my lungs. I absolutely, positively could not handle it if the kid started crying.

I didn't try to make my voice sugar-sweet, like I might have if I was talking to any other kid his age. Like I would, maybe, if I'd been talking to Coby. Instead, I tried my best to keep it level. Honest. “Hey, it's okay,” I said. “Don't be so hard on yourself. Just, if you find anything, will you let us know?”

He blinked a few times before his eyes cleared, then he nodded and moved back to sit beside Lonnie.

“Now,” Romeo cut in, “what'd you ask me down in the street again?”

“Have you noticed a decrease in army deserters lately?” Lu asked, her voice clear and controlled, her eyes steady on Romeo.

He gave an exaggerated nod. “Oh yeah. Used to be every week I'd see someone new. Then the military started swarming all over the place, I guess looking for them. We had to hide all the time. I could barely walk
in my own
streets anymore!” Romeo spoke using his whole body, with an expressive flourish that started with his hands and flowed down to the bending of his knees, using his body like an exclamation mark. It was hard not to smile.

“Do you know why there's been a decrease in deserters?” Lu asked. Her voice always had a flat, robotic drone, but that chess game had taught me something about her: she held everything in his eyes. Right now they had a sharp glint, like light flashing off the edge of a razor.

“I'm afraid I don't.” Romeo's face changed then — his chin tilted down at just the right
aw, shucks
angle that someone as arrogant as Jackson was sure to miss. But I didn't miss it. That was my first peek at the inclination for self-preservation that probably kept Romeo and his crew alive for so long after the virus hit.

That was also the first thing that made me suspect Romeo's too-cool gangster act was just that. An act. Jackson looked like he was barely holding back a laugh and Brooks' face was a blank slate. Lu, though... Lu was staring at Romeo like she'd never seen him before. She must have noticed it, too. The cunning.

Everyone had a different survival strategy post-TEOWAWKI. Everyone had a role to play. Lu's was being smarter than everyone else and making sure everyone knew it. Romeo's was acting dumber.

I wished I knew what mine was.

“Speculate,” Lu ordered.

That
aw, shucks
smile slid off Romeo's face. “Not gonna take orders from you, soldier.”

Jackson clenched his fists.

“Jackson,” Lu said smoothly, “it's all right. I'm sure Romeo would tell us if they knew anything else. Just like we would do with them.” I barely held back a skeptical laugh. “We do have one other thing to ask you…” Lu trailed off, glancing at me over her shoulder. My cue.

I stepped forward. “Romeo,” I said, putting a little honey into my voice, slick and sweet. I didn't have to try to make my eyes shine with emotion. It had been so close to the surface the past couple days. “My little brother's missing. The military took him from our house.”

Romeo tsked and shook his head. “Damn shameful,” he said. “These folks are supposed to protect us, you know, and what do they do? They turn around and kidnap your brother. Speaking of which,” he looked over to Lu, “that's in-ter
-esting
. They took him out of the ‘burbs? Alive? And he'd been there the whole time?”

“Yes,” Lu said. “He was found in the suburbs. And he resisted.”

“So that's what you came to tell me,” Romeo said. His eyes grew distant.

“Have you seen him, Romeo?” I interrupted. “He's eight years old, a little smaller than Didgy, with blond hair and blue eyes like mine, but a little lighter.” I searched Romeo's eyes for any sign of recognition. He shook his head.

“I ain't seen him, Cora. I sure do wish you luck, though.” Romeo made a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat and then turned to face Lu. “You're thinking there's a connection between the military's increase in activity and them taking this little boy?”

“It would be an incredible coincidence if the two things weren't connected,” Lu said.

Romeo nodded slowly. “If that's the case,” he said, turning from Lu to face me, “then you have the key right here.”

My heart began to beat faster. I looked from face to face — Lu, Jackson, Brooks, and Lonnie. They all regarded me thoughtfully. Lonnie seemed a little sad. Jackson looked hungry.

Brooks moved closer to me. “Too bad she doesn't know anything helpful,” he said.

Romeo shrugged and everyone turned back to him. I released my breath.

“As far as I can tell, the military put a stop to those desertion
issues
,” Romeo said, punctuating the last word with a bend in his knees, “by hunting down every deserter.” He glanced around the room at the brigade with a smile. “Well, almost every deserter.”

That smile didn't fade, but there was an edge to his voice. I caught the implication. The brigade had deserted, and that made them valuable property to the government. They were wanted, and Romeo knew it.

Lu ignored the subtle threat. “But how are the deserters being found?” she asked. I stared at her. Wasn't it obvious? The cameras had to be how they were being found. I opened my mouth to question her, but Brooks caught my eye and shook his head slightly.

“Rumor has it they've started chipping their soldiers like dogs,” Romeo said. “A few of my guys talked to a group of deserters about a week ago. They said the military's been getting a little
short-staffed
between the virus and desertion.”

Jackson cursed quietly and grabbed Lu's arm, pulling her in close to whisper in her ear. Lu shook her head sharply and hissed something in a harsh voice I couldn't quite hear. I raised my brows at Brooks in a question, but he just shook his head again. I stayed quiet.

But someone was missing. It took me a moment to find Lonnie, and when I finally did I almost laughed.

He'd opened the office door, wandered into the hallway, and found the gangster that had been holding the long, heavy chain — except now the chain was wrapped around Lonnie's waist like a lasso and the two of them were kissing.

“Hey! Come on now,” Romeo shouted playfully. “Break it up.” Lonnie and the other guy separated with a loud smack.

“
Lonnie,”
Lu snapped, standing. “We need to go.”

Lonnie gave his boy toy one last peck on the cheek and strutted back inside the office wearing a self-satisfied grin. “Don't get your panties in a bunch, Lu,” he teased, shooting a wink in my direction. “You know I never get to have any fun.”

Lu ignored him, brushing past Romeo, and then we started walking back the way we came. Right after I made it out the door, though, a tug on my wrist stopped me. I looked down to see Didgy.

“Here,” he whispered, and handed me a can of mandarin oranges. “Take this. I think it'll help.”

I looked over my shoulder to see Lonnie, Lu and Jackson almost at the other end of the room. Brooks was waiting for me a few feet ahead with his eyebrow cocked in a question. I turned back to tell Didgy thank you, but he was already gone, the door to the office closed.

My heart ached for the kid. He was so young, so smart, and irreparably damaged. Would Coby be like that, when I found him? All his innocence lost?

I caught up with Brooks, and he put his hand on the small of my back to guide me. It sent a shock up my spine that made me jump and quicken my pace, hoping to leave his touch behind. I couldn't deal with the way it made me feel right then.

But I forgot to avoid looking inside the cubicles.

As we passed one near the exit, my gaze wandered inside and my feet stopped taking me forward. A little girl in a torn, yellowing t-shirt sat alone on a dirty twin-size mattress, her knees pulled in to her chest. Her frame was skeletal, her tiny fingers like brittle twigs. When she saw me staring, she scuttled back, a small cry escaping her lips.

“Hey, it's okay,” I said, walking forward and holding out the can of oranges. “Here, take it! Come on, quick.”

She didn't move.

I scanned up and down the aisle, but it was empty except for Brooks, draped in ammo, with his rifle and handgun. No wonder people scattered when they saw us coming. I'd run, too.

“Go on,” I hissed at him. “I'll catch up.”

I walked a little closer, barely stepping through the threshold. “I'll leave these here, sweetie. Eat them, okay?” She looked at me, her eyes wet with tears, and nodded. I left the can on the ground beside her mattress and kept walking, my eyes resolutely glued to the floor.

It was late afternoon by the time we got back to the warehouse. I unhooked my arms from around Brooks' waist like they were on fire, and jumped off his bike. Being in such close contact to him for so long was doing funny things to my insides. I didn't like it.

Lonnie puttered up beside us. I felt like I'd been rolled in mud, and wouldn't be surprised if I had bugs between my teeth, but Lonnie's shirt was somehow spotless. Of course. Lu and Jackson had gotten here way ahead of us; they'd gone even faster than they had on our way into town and now were nowhere in sight. Their bikes lay abandoned in the red clay dirt.

Lonnie let out a dramatic sigh as he let his kickstand down. He jerked his head at Lu and Jackson's abandoned bikes. “
Those
two are going to be impossible to live with now.”

“Why?” I said.

He turned his full Cheshire grin on me and waved his hand dismissively. “They just need to loosen up a little. Who knows how long any of us even have left? And they're going to spend it miserable!”

That was a good point, if a little morbid. We left the bikes in the yard and went inside. Brooks sat in the chair across from the vomit couch, and gestured to the chessboard that still sat on the battered coffee table.

“Smith,” he said. “Up for a game?”

Lonnie hesitated. “What about Jackson and Lu?” he asked. “Do you think we should, you know,” he cut a quick glance in my direction, “go help them?”

Brooks stared at him steadily. “I think they can handle it.”

I looked between them in confusion. I'd just assumed Lu and Jackson went for some gross private time, but clearly it was something more. “What's going on?” I asked.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Brooks said casually. “So how ‘bout that game, Smith?”

Lonnie turned to me with a sheepish smile. “Will you be my coach? I'm no good at chess.”

I brushed off the weird exchange between them and grinned. It was hard not to smile at Lonnie. “Sure thing.”

A few minutes into the game, it became clear that Lonnie was beyond redemption. His queen was taken in the first five moves. Now it was just a slow march to the end.

They were having a great time, though.

“Hey Brooks, what does this piece mean?” Lonnie asked, holding up his black knight. He gasped in shock when Brooks explained it. “I had no idea I cared so little about my own independence!” Lonnie cried, looking comically distressed. Later he said, “Of course, I
would
give up five of my pawns. That was totally on purpose, definitely. Typical of me.”

I'd never seen Brooks smile so much. Hell, I honestly didn't even think he was capable of more than a moment of genuine laughter. The way it made his face light up, I could barely keep my eyes off him.