Harvest, Quietus #1 (6 page)

And suddenly he's there, in front of
me. His sister at his side.

I get off the bike and fall into his
arms with a wild sob.

“Wynter...thank God! Are
you okay?” he asks, hugging me tightly. He smells lovely. So clean
and fresh. And it feels so good being held close to another person.
I've gone from being an uptight, broken woman who keeps men at two
arms length to a man-craving softie who wants to be cuddled. And it
only took the end of the world to manage my smooth
transit.

Is is the end of the
world? Could it really be?

I can't think straight. In fact my
brain is shutting down, going into hibernation. Tears roll down my
face in a massive flow; a surging waterfall. I look up at his face
and try to speak, but nothing comes out but loud sobs. I'm aware of
his sister, talking to me...of shushing noises and the two of them
leading me inside and through the dark corridor to their room. He
tries to sit me down, on the bed, next to him but I collapse
against him, bringing him down alongside me.

“Don't... leave... me,” I
say, in heaving breaths, desperately trying to calm myself down.
But it seems I can't. I don't know if it's the heat and exhaustion,
my lonely fretful hours, worry about my loved ones, the dreadful
situation that humanity has been issued, or just plain old relief
he's here
—
I cry
my eyes out like a child
—
and he holds me close, sensing
that's all I need right now.

After a while I start to calm. My eyes
are closed and I'm relaxing.

I'm about to fall asleep.

“What d'you think happened to her?”
his sister asks in a concerned tone of voice.

“I don't know. We'll talk about it
tomorrow, okay, kiddo?”

“Yeah. Tomorrow's another day.
Hopefully a nicer one. I'm having my shower now.”

“You do that...Be careful in there,
though, it's dark...I'm going to sleep...dog tired.” he says in a
slur of words and yawns. “'Night sweetheart.”

“'Night...” she says. “I'm so looking
forward to my Big Breakfast in the morning, with two extra hash
browns and a huge coffee.”

“Oh ha ha...don't count on McD being
open for business as usual.”

That's so touching. Despite
everything, she still manages to make a light hearted joke with
him.

I hear a door opening and closing and
the shower being turned on.

I move my hand to wipe my damp face,
which is drying of its salty tears and feels itchy. Then I open my
eyes to find his staring into mine, just a few inches away. His
face is bathed in the reddish glow from the window.

“Feeling better?” he asks.

“There's nothing like a good cry to
release the tension.”

I should feel embarrassed about my
crying outburst, but I don't. Our present situation has changed all
my rules.

He rubs my arm up and down, and it's
comforting.

“Come on, you can sleep in Evelyn's
room tonight. We all need some rest and then we'll talk,
tomorrow.”

As I follow him, through the reddened
light, to the connecting room, I'm hoping, that come tomorrow,
things will become clearer. Today has been full of highs and lows,
a very confusing and highly stressful day, but we've forged our way
through it somehow. And at least we've ended the day together. That
means a lot more than I ever thought it could. I feel so much
better being here with the two of them. It's not just me anymore. I
can share my thoughts and ideas. We can plan and make decisions
together.

Tiredness overwhelms me again. And
thirst.

“I need a drink.” He hands me a bottle
of water from the side table.

“There you go, there's plenty of
bottles here, take whatever you need.”

“Thanks.”

I sit on one of the beds and drink
long, refreshing mouthfuls of it.

“We only got back thirty minutes
before you arrived.”

“By bike, I guess?”

“No choice really, was
there?”

I smile at him and he smiles back as
he leans against the door frame, with folded arms.

There's just one thing I need to say
before I go to sleep. Then I can rest better.

“I'm sorry I was so cranky
earlier.”

“Forget it...it's a new
start.”

“Yeah, a new start.” Well, that was
painless.

“I'll say goodnight then.”

“Sweet dreams.” I say, tongue in
cheek, my sense of humor returning for a moment.

“I could do with sweet
something.”

He laughs and so do I.

He closes the door, leaving it open a
few inches

Stripping off my sweaty clothes
completely, I slide under the bed-sheet. Instinctively, I roll
sideways, the way I always sleep, and move my upper leg into its
usual comfortable, bent position. Hugging the pillow, I instantly
relax into a deep and dreamless and completely exhausted
sleep.

*

I wake to the sound of rain. Heavy
rain. Quietly, I get up, put on my clothes and stand at the window
for a while, watching the rain sheeting down in the early morning
light. The reddish glow in the sky is still very much in evidence
but I can't see a lot of detail through the driving rain. Florida
rainfall can be heavy and prolonged at times, but I wonder if this
is the aftermath of the heat and what had happened the day before;
weather fronts meeting, or whatever has happened. Rain may be a
pain, but I'm so glad the temperature is notably cooler, at
least.

Leaving the window I check on Evelyn,
who is still sound asleep and then I poke my head through the
interconnecting door. He's still asleep as well. I slip my shoes on
and picking up my cell, I collect his key card and leave the room.
I'm going to check out the hotel for food and supplies.

As I descend the stairs, I check my
phone. No answers. No missed calls. I try my mom and dad and Lucy.
Still no reply.

I'm not going to think too hard what
that could mean right now. I'll keep trying, and keep hopeful. The
Internet is a no-go this morning. Not that it was much help
yesterday.

There are well stocked kitchens but
everything in the coolers and freezers is no longer cold, and will
soon spoil, if it hasn't already. I throw it all away in the trash
cans, outside the back door. I'm not risking eating something which
might make me sick and this is going to rot and stink the place out
soon. The storage cupboards hold a lot of dried and tinned foods,
which will come in useful. And there is a ton of pasta, rice and
beans. I try the gas controls on the large stainless steel stove.
The gas hisses and the smell rises fast. The ignition isn't
working, but I guess a match will sort that problem out. So, we
have the means to cook something. I continue to poke around the
cupboards and find a large store of candles, which prompts me to
consider visiting the camping store for some real lights, battery
operated ones, and other essential items.

I really don't know what to expect of
our current situation or how long it will take before we manage to
find some other people. But in any case, it's important that we are
prepared for a longer term than a few days. We need to think worst
case scenario. If we could get some information about the extent of
this emergency from somewhere, that would help a whole damn lot. I
gather together some food for breakfast. Some wheat crackers,
chocolate spread, a packet of coconut cookies, salted peanuts, a
handful of dried fruit and a carton of orange juice, and then look
around for some glasses. Returning to his room, with a full tray, I
find James is up and I can hear the shower running in the bathroom.
I put the tray on his bed and knock on the bathroom
door.

“Morning,” I call out. “Gonna be
long?”

I'm letting him know I'm here, purely
for decency's sake. Don't want any kind of embarrassing moments to
go down.

“A few minutes,” he
replies.

“Okay. Got some food here.”

“Great, I'm starving.”

I hope he's not expecting a
feast.

I sit in his room to wait, on the bed,
with a pen and the hotel notepad, and start to make a list.
Everything I can imagine we might need; medical supplies, fuel,
water purification tablets, various types of clothing...the list
grows and grows. My mind starts to tick over. We could stock up and
keep everything here at the hotel. Use it as a base. Spring Hill is
a good sized town, with plenty of supplies. More than we could ever
use. We might have to travel around a little to pick up food. I'm
already aware that the lack of cooling facilities means everything
has to be fresh, dried or pre-prepared, in tins, bottles and
packets.

The shower turns off and at the same
moment Evelyn appears, through the door, yawning sleepily. She
stretches and comes toward me.

“Okay?” I ask.

“Yeah, and you?”

“I guess. If I don't think too much
about things. I can just about hold it together.”

I feel for her so badly, how hard must
this be?

She spies the food sitting on the tray
and sits at my side picking at it hungrily.

“Well... I never thought raisins and
salted peanuts could taste so good together,” she says with a
brittle little laugh.

“
Dive in, it may be a bit basic but there's plenty of it.
Have a salt and sugar overdose on me.”

I laugh too. And that seems strange.
Could I find something of humor here, in this dire situation?
Really? There is absolutely nothing funny about the whole of the
human population disappearing off the face of the earth. Is there?
I have no right to laugh again. About anything. Ever.

She giggles in a sweet, childlike
manner, filling her mouth with food, and I laugh again in nervous
reaction, wanting to respond to her. To reassure her in some way
perhaps, that we should maintain a measure of normality in our
crisis.

No, it's actually far more likely,
that madness has finally overwhelmed me. And I haven't the faintest
idea how to handle any of this.

The door swings open and he walks out
of the bathroom, towel slung low around his bottom half, confidence
oozing from every squeaky clean pore. I can't help it. I have a
good look. And my mouth waters. He has a lot of appeal. Well, he's
appealing to me, but then again, I'm emotionally, and probably
mentally, unbalanced. And no one could blame me for going a bit
man-crazy just now, could they? He could be the last one left...
anywhere.

“
Alright, Jammy boy?” Evelyn says, in between chewing, with
her mouth over full.

I snort quietly to myself at her name
for him.

He's definitely not jammy
at the moment or any kind of boy... he's fit and smoking
hot...

I indulge myself with another long,
appreciative look.

“
Yeah, I'm fine...But Gracie, save some of that for me, I'm
actually goddamn starving,” and he smiles, very sexily, and very
obviously, at me.

Strangely, his hot smile snaps me out
of my wayward thoughts and back to our grim reality.

“
There's enough to feed the whole of the US marine corp. No
worries,” I reply as he grabs his clothes from his chair and takes
them next door to dress.

We sit picking at our food, silently,
lost in our thoughts until he returns.

And there he is, standing before me,
hands on hips, looking very large and totally in command of the
situation. Although, from his expression, I'm not sure he really
feels that way.

He leans down toward me and takes some
food and a glass of drink. The OJ disappears pretty fast and he
shoves a whole handful of nuts in his mouth, crunching them, open
mouthed, noisily.

I raise my eyebrows. There's no need
for bad manners.

“
Right girls... listen up... it's like this... my plan... of
sorts is....”

“
Oh good. You have a plan? We're safe then. What would we do
without you?”

The words are out before I can stop
them.

He laughs at me as I blush beetroot
red with embarrassment.

My mouth is my worst enemy at
times.

“
Wynter, lighten up, sweetheart. We need to get along, okay?
I was merely saying, we need to discuss our next steps... make
plans together... we're a team, aren't we?”

“
Sorry. Old habits... but I've got a fair few ideas what we
can do, anyway.”

“
Well thank God for that. 'Cos although
we
are
a team, in my opinion, I was praying you weren't both
relying on me to come up with a miracle and the answer to
everything that's gone wrong, just because I'm a guy,” he sighs,
genuinely relieved, “to be honest, I don't even have the basics
down in survival techniques. And I guess, that's what we need right
now. Who knows what's happened out there and what we have to face.”
I really warm to him admitting his fear and possible inadequacy.
But that is quickly followed by a chill running down my
spine.