A Matter of Days (18 page)

“Mm-hmm. I hided. I don’t like them. They steal rings and sparklies. Mommy would call the police, but I tried and the phones don’t work.”

Zack picked up a stack of newspapers. “Hey, Nadia, come take a look at this.”

The headline read
Will Reactor Near Freedom Mall Destroy Consumer Culture?

He dropped his voice. “The mall is right by a nuclear power plant. One melted down in Florida when BluStar started.”

“Florida? Where? Near Disney World?”

“Yeah, that’s not there anymore.” Zack shook his head. The newspaper was dated about the time the riots in Seattle gave us all a curfew and shut down the hospitals.

What other massive changes have happened that we don’t know about?

“Yeah, people were too scared to come here Mommy said.”

“Jesus.” Zack swore.

So you leave your kid in a place where she might be safe if you die, but also she could live through BluStar and die because a nuclear reactor didn’t survive the no-humans or lack-of-power thing very well. What other catastrophes were going on right now?
What if West Virginia is no longer there?

“Want to see my favorite place?” Patty asked.

“Sure.”

Zack stopped behind the reception area at a locked door with an exit sign. “Patty, is this how we get up on the roof?”

“Mm-hmm.” She nodded. “Mommy never let me go up there.”

“I’ll catch up with you.”

Rabbit and Patty started out the door, but I lingered.

“What are you thinking?” I asked Zack.

“I’m going to go up and see what I can see.”

“Why?”

“It’s the highest place around here. Might give us a sense of what’s out there.”

“Don’t take too long, okay? This place gives me the creeps.” I marked turns and directions for Zack on the walls. Bread crumbs weren’t as easy to read as “Turn left here.”

Patty took us to the biggest toy store I’d ever seen. As she turned on a circle of bright pink Barbie camping lamps I saw the miniature world she’d built. Surrounded by castles and mansions and apartment buildings, I felt like a giant looking down from the heavens. She’d lined the edges with stuffed animals like an audience. Dolls in various states of dress were frozen in time doing countless activities. I could almost let myself believe this was every little kid’s fantasy, until she pointed out the pile of dolls in the dump truck on the periphery. “That’s the sleeping people.”

Zack came jogging in. “Guys, we need to get going.” He tried to keep the emotion out of his voice but his tone had my pulse galloping at high speed. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “There’s a cloud of dust headed this way.”

“A storm?”

“No, a long line of trucks.”

I gasped, turning my face away from the wide eyes of Rabbit and Patty, who were poised to panic at any moment.

“They’re miles away, but headed straight here. I don’t want to meet them.”

“We’ve got to take her with us.”

He nodded agreement. “Grab what you can and let’s get out of here.” He said in a louder voice, “Horse, we have to go now. Let’s go get the backpacks.”

“Patty, will you come with us?” I knelt beside her.

“Please?” both Rabbit and Zack reiterated as they lifted the grate enough for us to crawl under.

Her eyes widened. And she seemed to crumple in on herself. “Leave Mommy? Now?” She grabbed my hand and clung as we walked quickly back toward the gear store and the entrance we’d parked near.

I squatted. “You’re really brave. And your mommy would be so proud of you. You know how she said to ask the soldiers for help?”

“Mm-hmm?”

“My uncle is a soldier and we are going to his house so he can help us. Will you come with us?”

We heard the roar of engines. It took me a moment to realize what the sound was. There was a time when traffic noises were a thing of normalcy; now they were odd and unwelcome.

“Nadia?” Zack and Rabbit loaded backpacks and bags with our stuff.

“Patty, Twawki wants you to come with us,” Rabbit called out.

Zack kept mouthing to me to pick her up. I couldn’t manhandle her.

“Okay. But, I gotta get my mommy doll.” Patty took off running.

“Wait! We don’t have time!” Zack yelled. “Nadia, we can’t wait.”

Twawki lifted his head.

I listened to her footsteps squeak and pound away from us. “I know! Take Rab and get out of here. I’ll find Patty and we’ll come to you.”

“No!” Rabbit yelled.

“You have to.” There was no way we could hide with Twawki and we had no idea if the incoming forces were friendly or not. I couldn’t pin hopes on them being unarmed and sane.

“Go,” I demanded.

“I’ll keep him safe.” Zack tugged Rabbit’s backpack as my brother cried. Zack tossed me a handgun. “Take this. Shoot first, you hear me? Listen to your gut.”

I nodded and tucked it into my pocket.

“It’ll be okay, Rabbit. We’ll come as soon as we can.” I ran over and hugged him quickly.

He sniffed. “Please come.”

“I can’t leave her here.”
Not to face whoever shows up
. “She knows how to hide, we’ll be okay. Promise. I’m a cockroach, remember?”

We heard the rattle of chains and a few rounds of bullets echo down the long hallways.

“Go!” I sprinted away from the boys, hoping I’d find Patty with her doll and we could hide well enough to survive. I didn’t look back.

I heard doors slam open and bullets fly wildly like a crazy celebration with boisterous revelers. Taking the frozen escalators like stairs, I bounded up to the third floor, pushed along by pulsing adrenaline. My new boots slapped against the tiles.
There, up ahead!
Barely pausing to breathe, I slid feetfirst under the grid of the mega toy store where Patty had built her doll
city. My back jeans’ pocket snagged on the gate and I couldn’t get past it. I struggled until I heard my pants rip, the MP3 player clattered to the floor.

My heart thumped violently.

“Check for critters, bring any here.” A voice full of authority, and bitter power, boomed somewhere down below me.

I reached out and snagged the music keeper, tucking it into my other back pocket. I patted the handgun, thankful it hadn’t gone off in all my scrambling.

I crawled along the floor hissing, “Patty? Patty?” Where was she last holding a doll? Were we in her mother’s office? Here at the toy store? The fitting room?

I heard yelling and ducked behind a partition as flashlight beams crisscrossed and flashed like a deranged laser show.
Breathe in four, exhale four. Keep thinking
.

I made it to the rear door and slowly turned the knob. Holding my breath, I inched into the hallway. No lights. No sounds. I tried to close the door behind me as silently as possible.

I waited for a moment. Two combat breaths. The sounds of shouting and pillaging were muffled behind me.

Where’s the office? Zack’s directions!
I turned on my flashlight long enough at each corner to read the notes and retrace our steps. I flicked the beam down the hallway to check for obstacles, then clicked it off to make the journey in darkness. Until all of this happened, I never realized how bright light shone surrounded by nothing but blackness.

I walked tentatively. I traced the wall with the fingertips of one hand while feeling ahead with my shins and toes. The last thing I needed to do was run into a rack of plastic hangers and
knock them across the tiles. It would be like walking up and introducing myself to the gang out there.

Finally, I found the door to the director’s office and crawled inside. “Patty? Patty, where are you?”

I heard nothing and skulked behind the reception counter. She didn’t answer, or she wasn’t there.

Raised voices and thundering yells in the maze of hallways seemed to edge closer.

I need to hide. Now! Where can I go that they won’t search too well?

I rattled the doorknob for the roof. Locked. I turned around. There was only one other door. I tripped over empty water bottles and pinched my nose closed.
Sorry, Patty’s mom
.

A few flies smacked me in the face as I opened the door. I tasted death and decomposition on the back of my throat, even with my nose closed. My eyes burned and as I turned on the flashlight I tried not to think about the lumps and mess to my right. I ducked around the door and spotted a nook between the filing cabinets. They’d have to come in and study the room to spot me. I prayed they had weak stomachs and greedy eyes. I cradled the gun in my hand and took the safety off. I’d shoot. I’d shoot anyone to save myself.

I made the mistake of breathing through my nose. Bile rose as my gag reflex worked overtime to unload my stomach. I clenched my jaw and pressed the inside of my elbow to my mouth.
Please don’t puke. Please don’t puke
.

I was so focused on not throwing up that I missed hearing the outer office door open.

“I swear I heard something in here.”

“Yeah, dead people. Whatcha, one of those psychics now?”

Today’s lunch filled my mouth. I had to breathe through my nose, which only made me throw up even more. I pursed my lips as the footsteps drew closer. I tried swallowing, but I couldn’t make my throat take it back.

The door cracked and I felt as though my body was made of thin glass—one move and I’d shatter.

“Shit, man, bodies in here.”

“Anything of value?”

“You know how I feel about touching ’em.”

“You want me to?”

“Nah, just looks like a dog who crawled into bushes, you know. Not hoarding goods.”

The door clicked shut and I heard their voices and steps recede. I held my position until I leaned over and spit out the vomit. The relief brought the rest of my lunch up, and I continued puking until all that was left was air.

My stomach cramping, I crawled over to a stack of bottles behind the desk and saw an unopened water bottle. I swigged my mouth out, trying to chase away the acidic taste of vomit. I spit onto the floor. Cold sweat beaded my forehead and brought shivers in waves across my spine. I felt goose bumps rise along my arms.

I had to check the fitting room. That was the only place left to look. I tried every door along the hallways until I found one unlocked. Shuffling through the stockroom, I realized this store used to sell teen costume jewelry. The cartoon characters and tubes of glitter cosmetics mocked me.

All over the mall I heard glass breaking and shouts. How many were there?
Sounds like a herd of looting elephants
.

I snuck toward the gate, trying to spot a landmark or store
to help me place my location. Peering through the chains, I realized I needed to be down a level and then head left toward the clothing store.

I slithered under the fence and crouched behind garbage cans, then potted trees, and benches, as I worked my way over toward the escalators.

When I heard a man yell, “Come back! We won’t hurt you!” I thought maybe I’d been spotted, but the running was in the opposite direction.
Patty?

I changed course and headed toward the center atrium, where most of the chaos originated.

As I scrutinized the commotion below me through glass partitions, my stomach twisted.

“Look what I caught!” one man yelled to his pals.

“Patty!” I whispered.

Patty struggled in his arms, and the more she wiggled, the more he laughed. “It’s not like we’re going to eat you,” he said. “Yet.”

I ducked down. There were several smaller groups of men, unshaved, dirty, and greasy. Maybe a dozen men. They were heavily armed and looked slightly ridiculous yet completely dangerous. In suit parts and baseball caps with flashlights duct-taped to the bills, they weren’t wearing
I’M A CRIMINAL
signs. And months ago I would have said they didn’t look like the types to carry automatic weapons and harass children.
But looks are very deceptive
.

I glanced overhead. Evening was falling; the light paled, taking on a sickly, greenish-gray pallor. I needed to wait until full dark, or they’d see me coming. Even armed I was no match for a dozen men with automatic weapons and greed blinding them.

In a never-ending cycle, the leader dispatched groups to hunt up different supplies, even as they all returned to the center with their treasures.

With a nod to one scraggly lounger, the leader commanded, “Keep on an eye on her—Jonah will trade good for her.”

Patty quit struggling rather than let him touch her. She huddled with her knees drawn up to her chest, bundled tightly into herself, as if she might be able to disappear completely by shrinking.

“Hang on, Patty. I’m here,” I whispered.

The leader instructed his latest set of goons, “You have forty-five minutes to gather what you can. Meet back here. We’ll take the girl to the rendezvous spot and trade her to Jonah for more ammo. Make sure there aren’t any others around here hiding. We don’t need any surprises.” As they scurried off like mice, I knew I needed to get down the escalator before I ran into any of them.

The guy guarding Patty grew bored with teasing her, but even in the low light I saw his eyes were bloodshot and yellow. He seemed like he was drunk or high. He fidgeted and twitched, checking his watch and glancing over his shoulder as soon as he was left alone. He outweighed me by a hundred-plus pounds.

He eyed Patty like she was on the menu.

Finally on the ground floor I watched, and waited, while the sun sank and the light coming through the skylights blued, then faded away completely. Our only chance to escape once outside was the darkness. If they couldn’t see us, they couldn’t follow us.

When her captor turned around to light a cigarette, I tried blinking my flashlight at Patty to get her attention. She didn’t
move or even acknowledge my light. I tried to memorize the layout and floor plan. We had to escape without the benefit of sight.

The next time he started pacing, he picked up Patty and sat her on an art-installation cube. “Stay.”

He wandered over to a store that sold jerseys for sports teams. With the butt of his rifle he smashed at the window. When his back was turned, I tried to creep closer and get Patty’s attention. I kept one hand tight around the handgun.