Broken World (12 page)

A few minutes later a black Honda Pilot
pulls up next to us, and the men all climb out.

“Got this mother gassed up and ready to
go,” Axl says.

He gets to work, helping Trey load the
car while Angus climbs in the driver’s seat of the Nissan. I climb out. No way
I want to sit in a car with Angus. Plus, I need to talk to Trey before they
take off.

I find him at the back of the Nissan,
going through the car to make sure he has everything. “Hey, I wanted to talk to
you before you guys headed out.”

“What’s up?”

I look over at Axl to make sure he can’t
hear us. “Parvarti’s worried about you guys heading back to your place and
finding things aren’t good there. She doesn’t want you to be alone.”

He frowns and stares at the ground. “I
know it’s a possibility, but I can’t just walk away if there’s a chance my
parents are still alive.”

“I know. Nobody expects you to. I just
think we should come up with a plan to meet up in a few days, just in case.”

He glances toward the front of the car,
and I follow his gaze. Angus isn’t paying attention to us, thankfully. “What
did you have in mind? Cells aren’t working, it’s not like I’m going to be able
to call you.”

“I was thinking we could pick a place,
maybe in San Francisco or something, and set up a time to meet. We can go there
and wait for a day or so to see if you show. If you don’t, we can assume
everything is good on your end.”

“That’s a good idea. It would be nice to
be able to meet back up in case…” He swallows and blinks a few times, then
clears his throat. “But will you be able to get them to come?”

I look over my shoulder. Axl is watching
us. “I can get them there.”

“Okay. So where do we meet?”

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

“Someplace that would be good for you
guys to hang out for a day or two. A hotel maybe?”

I perk up. “Yeah. That sounds like a
good idea.”

“My parents always stay at the Mark
Hopkins when they go into San Francisco.”

“I don’t know where that is, but we’ll
figure it out. Will two days be long enough?”

“Yeah. That will give me time to get
home and check on my family, and get some things together if I have to head
out.”

“Okay then,” I say. “I’ll get them to
the city and to the hotel. Be there by Sunday at the latest.”

“What’re you two yappin’ about?” Axl
asks, walking over to us.

“Nothing,” I say. “Just saying goodbye.”

“Well let’s get on with it. We still got
a good hour to go ourselves.”

I turn toward the Pilot where Parvarti
stands, waiting for Trey. “Be careful,” I say, giving her a hug. It’s a bit
awkward. We didn’t really get a chance to know one another that well, but it
seems like the right thing to do.

“We will,” she says.

I put my mouth up to her ear and
whisper, “Trey and I talked. We worked out a plan.”

She smiles when I step back, her eyes
full of relief.

“Thanks for the ride,” Trey says to Axl.

Axl nods and walks back to the Nissan
without saying anything. Angus doesn’t get out to say goodbye. Not that any of
us expected him to.

“Hope your parents are okay,” Joshua
says, shaking Trey’s hand.

Trey gives me a quick smile, then he and
Parvarti get in the car. I watch them drive off, and my stomach feels heavy,
like it’s full of rocks. I don’t think he’s going to arrive home to find his
family untouched by all this, and I fully expect to see him in San Francisco in
two days. As long as I can get the brothers to agree to go.

14

THE
DRIVE TO FAIRFIELD IS as quiet and uneventful as the rest of the day has been.
We pass ghost town after ghost town. The world’s population seems to have
disappeared overnight. The closer we get, the heavier my stomach becomes. By
the time we pull off the interstate, I’m pretty sure I’m going to throw up.

“Which way?” Angus asks.

I lean forward so I can get a better
view. The sun has set and there are no streetlights. The electricity is out,
just like it was at the dealership.

“Make a left at the next street.”

“Pretty swanky neighborhood,” Angus
says. “Looks like you made the right choice, givin’ her up.”

I have the sudden urge to punch him in
the throat. “Turn right at the next street,” I say through clenched teeth. “And
drive slow. I’m not positive which house it is. I haven’t been here in over
four years.”

Angus slows while I try to make out the
house numbers in the darkness. Most of the homes are completely dark, but a few
have flickering or faint lights illuminating the windows. Like the inhabitants
are using flashlights or candles. There are other survivors.

“What’s the number?” Joshua asks.

“4513,” I say. “It’s a one-story.”

“There.” Axl points out the window.

Angus pulls over in front of the house.
It’s dark, just like most of the others, and my heart races.

“I’ll go with you,” Axl says.

I give him a smile even though there’s
no way he can see it in the darkness. We climb out and head up the driveway in
silence. The entire neighbor is so quiet it makes me jumpy. There should be
noise in a neighborhood like this. Music or talking, kids laughing or even a
car driving down the street. But there’s nothing.

I knock on the front door and try to
peer through the decorative glass. No one answers, and there’s no visible
movement. Axl shrugs and shuffles his feet. I knock again. He looks as jumpy as
I feel. He has a gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other. He thought
ahead.

When no one answers again, I exhale. My
shoulders slump. She didn’t make it. We were too late.

I’m about to turn away when a shadow
darts across the room. My heart jumps to my throat. “Did you see that?”

He hands me the flashlight, then tries
the doorknob. It doesn’t turn. He steps back, studying the outside of the
house.

“What are you thinking?” I ask.

“Gotta be a way to get in. The front
door’s got a deadbolt on it. Maybe we can get in through a window or side
door.”

“We could just break a window,” I say.
“If they’re dead they won’t care, and if she’s alone we can’t leave her.”

Axl raises an eyebrow. “Don’t wanna
scare her.”

That’s a good point. “Okay. We’ll try
the other doors first, but if breaking a window is our only option…”

He heads to the side of the house and
reaches over the gate to unlatch it. In the backyard, I can just make out the
shape of a swing set in the darkness. Axl moves swiftly through the dark yard,
but I stumble a couple of times before finally flipping the flashlight on.
There’s a sliding glass door. When Axl yanks on the handle, it actually opens.

“Lucky for us they forgot to lock it,”
he says.

I exhale, and a lightness I haven’t felt
since this whole thing started comes over me. Maybe not even for years, if I’m
being honest. We’re here and the door is open. I can’t believe we made it.

We step in, and my eyes water. The air
reeks of spoiled food and death. I cough and cover my nose. My feet are rooted
to the ground. Do I want to keep walking? Do I want to go all this way just to
see her dead and bloated?

“She could still be okay,” Axl whispers.

I swallow and fight to keep calm.

Axl walks forward, and I force my feet
to work. The beam of the flashlight shakes as I pan it around the room. We’re
in the living room with the kitchen right in front of us. Axl heads that way. I
follow him on wobbly legs.

“Anybody here?” Axl calls.

I jump as his voice echoes through the
empty house, like we’re in a cavern from which there’s no escape. I can’t stop
shaking. There’s no answer. We find the kitchen floor covered in food and
trash. Bags from cookies and crackers, empty boxes. It’s weird to see such a
nice house so messy.

“Why’s there trash everywhere?”

Axl steps closer and snatches the
flashlight out of my hand. “Looks like the work of a kid. Somebody tryin’ to
fend for themselves.”

“She’s here.” My heart jumps. She’s
hiding somewhere. But where? There’s a small table in the corner but she isn’t
under it, and the pantry door is wide open. It’s empty.

“She’s somewhere.” Axl purses his lips.
“Just think ‘bout it for a sec. She’s alone. Scared. Where would she feel
safe?”

My heart pounds so hard that it’s like a
jackhammer thumping against my insides. The answer to that question is obvious,
and just thinking about it makes the contents of my stomach churn. “With her
mom.”

Our eyes meet. “Follow that smell and
we’ll find her.”

We head back through the house, past a
playroom full of toys and a bathroom, and down a dark hall with open doors. The
smell increases with each step.

“Emily,” I call out, trying to sound as
unthreatening as possible.

No one responds, but there’s movement at
the end of the hall. Coming from a sealed-off room.

Axl puts his gun away and turns the
knob. My heart pounds faster. He pushes the door open. I suck in a deep breath
through my nose and the putrid smell of death almost knocks me out. My stomach
turns. I can’t lose it now. Emily needs me.

Axl shines the flashlight on the bed,
illuminating two bodies. They’ve probably only been dead a day or two at the
most. They don’t look too bad. A little swollen and much, much too pale, but
otherwise they could almost be sleeping. A person might think they’re taking a
nap, if it wasn’t for the smell.

I step forward and do my best not to
focus on the bodies. Thankfully, Emily isn’t on the bed with her parents, but
she has to be in this room. I open a closed door. It’s a walk-in closet that’s
bigger than my bedroom back in Kentucky. Axl comes up behind me and shines the
light inside. It’s empty.

“Under the bed,” he whispers.

I take a deep breath, then bend down so
I can look under. Axl does the same. When he shines the light underneath,
Emily’s frightened eyes stare back at me.

They are large and brown, just like
mine. She’s filthy, and she clings to a stuffed animal. Her eyes are red and
swollen. Tears stream down her cheeks.

“Emily.” I try my best to sound calm.
“It’s okay. My name is Vivian, and I’m here to help you.”

She doesn’t move. Her eyes dart past me
to Axl.

“S’okay,” he says gently. His voice is
so much softer than I’ve ever heard it. “We ain’t gonna hurt you.”

Emily looks back and forth between us
for a second, then crawls forward. I help her out, then check her over to make
sure she’s okay. I’m not even sure what I’m looking for. Her hair is in tangled
knots and she’s wearing pajamas that are as filthy as her face.

I brush the dirty hair aside and give
her a tentative smile. “Are you okay?”

She looks over toward the bed. “Momma’s
sick.”

Tears come to my eyes and I bite my lip.
What do I say to that?

“Your momma’s gone, sweetheart,” Axl
says. Emily and I both turn to look at him, and he reaches up, gently patting
her on the shoulder. “So’s your daddy. But it’s okay, ‘cause they called and
asked us to come an’ take care of you.”

Emily looks at me with eyes wide. “Do I
have to leave momma?”

I nod and try to ignore the tear that
rolls down my cheek. “Yes, baby.”

She looks over at her mom and dad, and I
do the same. I can’t stop myself. It’s grotesque and horrifying, and I don’t
want her to have to stay in here a moment longer.

I scoop her up and turn toward the door.
“Let’s get out of here.”

I’m just about to walk out when
something catches my eye. I freeze.

Axl almost runs into my back. “What?”

I stare at the bed. “I thought I saw
something move.”

“Nothin’ movin’ in here.”

I nod but I can’t take my eyes off the
bodies. The flashlight isn’t pointed in that direction. Long shadows stretch
across the bed, playing tricks on my eyes. That’s all it is. There’s no way a
finger actually moved just now. That would be impossible.

The hair on the back of my neck stands
up.

I turn away, rushing down the hall to
Emily’s room. Axl is right behind me and my heart is still pounding when I set
Emily on her bed. There are goose bumps all up and down my arms. We need to get
out of this house as fast as possible.

“I’m gonna check out the rest of the
house while you get her things together.” Axl hands me the flashlight.

“How are you going to see what you’re
doing?”

“I’ll be alright,” he says. “Maybe I’ll
find a flashlight. We could use a few more anyways.”

“Be careful,” I call as he disappears
out the bedroom door.

Emily sits on the bed. Her eyes are huge
and she watches me silently as I move through the bedroom, opening drawers and
pulling out clothes and shoes. I’d like to be able to clean her up, but even if
the water is still on, it will be cold. There’s no electricity. But there’s
also no guarantee that the water is running at all.

I find a small suitcase in Emily’s
closet and stuff it full of clothes before I get her changed. She’s quiet the
entire time, just watching me with her big, brown eyes. I don’t talk either,
mostly because I don’t know what to say, and I work fast. I want to get out of
this house. The smell is making me more and more nauseated by the minute, and I
can’t shake that uneasy feeling from the master bedroom. Something just isn’t
right here.

Once she’s dressed in clean clothes, I
take her to the bathroom and set her on the sink. I cross my fingers as I turn
on the faucet. Water pours out, cool and clean, and I let out a sigh of relief.
I have to rinse the washcloth three times while cleaning her face. She never
says a word. She just stares at me. It’s like looking in a mirror. And it’s
strangely unnerving.

“Are we going on a trip?” she asks in a
quiet voice, finally breaking the silence.

I smile at her. “We’re going to find a
safe place to stay. Somewhere with food and lights.”

“Can I take my doggy?”

I forgot about the small stuffed animal
she had when I pulled her out from under the bed. It must be in her bedroom.

“Of course you can. In fact, why don’t
we go to your room and get some other toys and books to take. Okay?”

A grin stretches across her face and she
jumps off the bathroom counter, then dashes out into the hall without me. I
grab the flashlight and bag of toiletries and run after her. She shouldn’t be
alone. When I get to her room, she’s filling a small backpack with toys and
books.

Male voices float back to us from the
other part of the house, and she looks up at me with wide, terrified eyes.

“It’s okay,” I say, kneeling down in
front of her. “It’s just my friends.”

She picks up her stuffed dog and hugs it
tightly. I zip her backpack and look around the room, making sure there’s
nothing else I might need before standing up.

“You ready?” Axl comes in the door
behind me. “Angus is gettin’ antsy.”

Of course he is.

I turn to face Axl. “I wanted to talk to
you before we got back out to the car.”

He cocks his head to the side. “‘Bout
what?”

“I talked to Trey and Parvarti about
meeting up in two days, just in case things aren’t good for them. You know they
won’t make it on their own.”

He sighs and shakes his head. “I knew
you was cookin’ up somethin’. Angus ain’t gonna like it.”

“We have to. You know we do.”

“Dammit,” he mutters. “Where?”

“San Francisco.”

“I’ll see what I can do, but I ain’t
promisin’ nothin’. Angus is gonna be pissed.” He grabs the suitcase off the
floor and glances over toward Emily, who’s still clutching her dog. “Come on. I
got her booster seat outta the garage already.”

A warm feeling rushes through me. That’s
something I hadn’t even thought of. “Thank you, Axl.”

He nods to me, but turns toward Emily
and gives her a small smile. “You wanna go for a ride?”

She smiles shyly and nods, and my throat
tightens when Axl holds his hand out to her.