Broken World (6 page)

Axl and I don’t speak. We just stare at
each other. The diner is amazingly quiet, considering how full it is. People
cough. There are a few quiet conversations. Otherwise it’s silent. Deathly
silent.

“Thought the end of the world would be
more dramatic than this,” he finally says. It makes me jump.

I look around. It is the end. It’s
written on the face of every person in the diner. I’m sure it’s on mine. “There
should be chaos or panic. Something.”

“Probably is. In the cities.”

He’s right. Here the people are too
disappointed. They were so close. They passed their physicals and thought they
were in the clear. That they were going to make it. Is that what’s going to
happen to me? The thought sends a shiver down my spine.

The waitress finally brings our food.
Axl hands her a wad of money without even looking at the bills. He grabs my
elbow and pulls me toward the door. I try not to look at anyone, but I can’t
stop myself. I meet the eyes of every person who coughs in my direction.
They’re defeated and hopeless.

I pee behind the building, and we leave.
We eat in the car. The silence is so thick and painful I wouldn’t be surprised
if it swooped in and smothered us.

6

I
WAKE TO THE SOUND of Angus cursing. He’s in the driver’s seat. I’m not sure
when that happened. His face is tight and red as he stares out the front
window. The car slows down.

There’s a police car pulled off to the
side of the road with its light flashing. A cop stands in the middle of the
street. He waves his arms, trying to flag us down. Another car is pulled over
and two people stand next to it. My stomach tightens. Now what?

“Should we keep goin’?” Angus glances
over his shoulder at Axl, who leans forward. His head sticks between the seats.

“No. You gotta stop.”

“What if they’re lookin’ for us?”

“They ain’t lookin’ for us. Not in
Oklahoma. Not with the virus. We ain’t important right now.”

I was right. They are on the run.

“What do they want then?” I’ve never
heard Angus sound so tense. I guess only the cops scare him.

“Guess we’ll find out,” Axl says.

Angus pulls over and plasters a fake
smile on his face as the cop approaches the car. He rolls the window down, and
we wait.

The cop draws his gun and pastes a tense
smile on his face. He’s trying to stay casual. It doesn’t work. “Hey there,
folks. Sorry for bothering you.”

“Not a problem, officer,” Angus says cheerfully.

“Listen, we’ve got a couple over here
having some car trouble, and my partner and I were wondering if you would be
willing to give them a ride to the next checkpoint. It’s only about twenty
miles up the road, but we can’t leave our post.” His eyes dart toward the
couple, then back.

His partner stands by the police car
with a shotgun slung casually over his shoulder. Watching us.

“Once you get to the checkpoint you can
drop them off and someone will help them.”

Angus frowns and looks over his shoulder,
and I follow his gaze. Axl and Joshua are just as rigid as Angus. There’s
something wrong here.

“Sure, officer…” Angus lets the word
hang in the air for a brief second. “We can give them a lift. It’s only twenty
miles.”

The cop nods. His face is tight.
“Thanks.”

He doesn’t move, and he doesn’t take his
eyes off us. He just waves to his partner and stays where he is. Tension fills
my body as his partner walks toward us. The two people trail behind him. They
each carry a few bags. Axl hops out of the car and goes around the back of the
Nissan so he can open the door.

When they walk by me I get a better look
at them. They’re young. Eighteen, nineteen. College students probably. A guy
and a girl. He’s big like a linebacker. Dark black skin, hair cut short, serious
face. She’s tiny like a child, probably only five feet tall. Indian. Long hair
and big, round eyes that flash with terror.

Angus makes a grunting sound, and I
glance his way. His face is even harder than before. Is their skin color is
going to be a problem? He seems like that type.

“Yo, Doc!” Angus yells back to Joshua.
“Climb on up to the second row so these new folks can have that there third
row.”

“Thanks for your cooperation.” The cop
finally walks away. He barely glances at us before going to the back of our car
where his partner is. He never asked for our travel papers.

Angus looks back at his brother and
murmurs a few racial slurs under his breath. I knew it. This should make for an
interesting trip.

The couple climbs in the back, and Axl
hops in after them. “Let’s get the hell outta here.”

The cop never comes back. He and his
partner stand in the road behind us, talking.

I turn around in my seat and smile at
the new arrivals. I’m on edge, but I don’t want them to think it has anything
to do with them. “Hi. I’m Vivian. This is Angus, Joshua, and Axl.”

The guy nods, but muscles in his neck
are so tight his head barely moves. “Trey. This is Parvarti.”

“Where y’all comin’ from?” Angus calls
back.

“Cornell University,” Trey says.

Joshua spins around. “New York?”

They both nod, but don’t speak. Neither
do we. My heart pounds and a million questions go through my head. I can’t
force them past my lips. I want to know. So bad. But I don’t.

“Where you headed?” Axl’s voice is
strained.

“New Mexico,” Parvarti says, speaking up
for the first time. Her voice is soft and small, just like she is.

“Berkley,” Trey says.

Joshua finally finds his voice. “New
York isn’t on lockdown anymore?”

Trey swallows a few times, like he has a
tough time finding his voice. “No. Things broke up about a week ago. The
military started pulling out. The place is like a ghost town. There are still
cops around, but not many. They’re like the ones that stopped you. They’re
trying to maintain an air of authority, but they’re just around to keep the
peace. They don’t know what to do. Everything is breaking down. There’s
just…nothing.” He stops and looks at Parvarti, who scoots closer to him. “When
people started to leave, I decided to get the hell out. I had the cash to get
me across the country, but no car. People started putting notices up in the
coffee shop on campus, looking for travel companions. Parvarti had a car, but
not enough money to get her home. So we teamed up.”

“So you didn’t know each other before
then?” I ask. She took a big risk, driving a guy she didn’t know across the
country. Then again, I did the same thing. Desperation.

“No,” she whispers.

“What ‘bout your family?” Axl asks. “You
been in touch with ‘em?”

“My parents are okay. They said not a
lot of people out that way are sick. Parv’s parents…” Trey looks down at her
and frowns.

“The last time I talked to them was two
days ago. They were sick. I haven’t been able to get in touch with them since.”
Her eyes fill with tears. Trey puts his arm around her.

Joshua takes his phone out of his
pocket.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Calling a friend. He’s a lab tech with
the CDC. The doctor friend of mine who died was his girlfriend. He’ll tell me
what’s going on.” His expression is tight when he puts the phone up to his ear.
“Hector! It’s Joshua. Listen, the group I’m with just picked a few people up
from New York. What’s going on out there?” He frowns, listening to the man on
the other line. His face grows more worried by the second. “No. That’s not what
Isabel said.”

A pit forms in my stomach. I chew on my
lower lip and wait for him to tell us something. Trying to guess what the other
man is saying just by Joshua’s expression makes me want to scream. It’s not
good.

Joshua’s face crumples and his shoulders
slump. “That’s it, then. This is the end.” He shakes his head and listens a
little longer. “Somewhere in Oklahoma.” A pause. “It’s all the way out there?
There’s no stopping this, is there?”

I can’t look at his face anymore. I
already know what he’s going to say. He’s going to tell us it’s worse than they
originally thought. That the government has no solutions. That I now have more
than a seventy percent chance of death.

“Okay, thanks. I’ll talk to you later,
man.” He lowers the phone and I turn back around. “It’s bad.”

“No shit,” Axl says. “How bad?”

“Right now they’re saying more than
seventy percent of the population will be affected.”

“How much more?” I whisper, twisting my
head just enough that I can see him.

Joshua looks at me. “Eighty. Maybe
eighty-five. There are speculations that it’s some kind of man-made virus.
Hector said there are rumors the government created it, that it somehow got
out. But there are other rumors that there was a terrorist attack in New York.
No one really knows for sure, and they probably never will.”

“How do you know all this?” Trey asks.

“I’m a doctor. I worked in Baltimore and
the CDC was there. It’s a long story, but the short of it is this: you’re
immune.”

Trey sits up straighter, but he keeps
his arm around Parvarti’s shoulders. “What do you mean?”

“You were in New York this entire time.
If you weren’t immune you’d be dead by now. How many of your friends got sick?”

“More than half,” Trey says, so quietly
I almost can’t hear it.

Tears stream down Parvarti’s face.
“There’s no chance of getting better?”

“No.” Joshua’s voice is firm. He doesn’t
even try to cushion the blow. “If you get sick, you die. If you don’t, then
you’re immune.”

Parvarti starts to cry harder, and Trey
pulls her close.

I face the front. I’m hollow inside,
almost resigned. There’s no way I’ll be immune. Deep down, I know that. How
could I be? Nothing else in life has gone my way. Why should this?

No one talks for a while, and eventually
Parvarti’s crying stops. I’m glad. I should feel more sympathy toward her, but
I don’t. At least she knows now, before she gets all the way home.

We finally reach the checkpoint. If we
didn’t already know it was hopeless, we would now. There are still armed
soldiers, still military vehicles, but it’s nothing like the last one. The
soldier who walks up to us has his gun strapped to his back instead of in his
hands. His body isn’t stiff like the last guy we saw. Only two soldiers block
the road. One of them coughs.

“Papers.” His voice isn’t firm like the
soldier at the last checkpoint. This guy’s face is red and he has beads of
sweat on his forehead. He turns his head away and coughs. He’s sick.

Everyone passes their travel papers
forward, and Angus gives them to the soldier, who barely glances at them before
he hands them back. He’s just going through the motions at this point.

“Stick to Route 66,” he says, then turns
away from us.

The other soldiers step aside, and Angus
drives by. “Damn.”

My throat is tight. I can’t speak. The
car is so silent it reminds me of tomb.

Angus tosses the papers my way. “These
are probably useless now, but just in case.”

They fall on the seat and on the floor.
I gather them up. I’m too drained to be annoyed.

“Guess we’re stuck with you two.” Angus
looks in the rearview mirror and shakes his head. He purses his lips like he
just ate something sour.

I completely forgot we were supposed to
drop Trey and Parvarti off at the checkpoint.

“You can drop us off at the next motel,”
Trey says. He still has his arm around Parvarti, and all the muscles in the
face are taut.

Parvarti pulls away from him. “No. You
need to get home, Trey. Your parents aren’t sick.” She digs through a bag and
pulls out a handful of money. Her hand shakes when she thrusts it forward. “We
can pay you.”

“We’re going to California anyway.” I
focus on Axl. Angus would never agree to give them a ride.

Axl turns to Parvarti and Trey without
even consulting his brother. “Put your money away. We’ll give you a ride. You
gotta pitch in. Help out when we camp and all that.”

“Not even gonna talk to me ‘bout this,
Axl?” Angus glares at me, but I don’t back down.

“How’s it hurting you? We’re going there
anyway!”

Angus stares straight ahead. He mutters
a few racial slurs just loud enough for me to hear them. I glance toward the
backseat. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like Trey and Parvarti heard.

7

ANGUS
SLOWS DOWN and pulls up behind a black Honda Civic. A tent is set up about
twenty feet from the road. Two chairs lay on their sides next to what used to
be a fire, but no one is in sight. A couple huge black birds fly overhead,
slowly circling the tent.

My stomach tightens, and I tear my eyes
away from the tent, focusing on Angus. “What are you doing?” I have a bad
feeling about this.

Angus doesn’t turn the car off. He sits
there with his lips pursed, staring out the window. He doesn’t look at me, and
he doesn’t answer.

Axl leans forward. “What’re you
thinkin’?”

“I’m thinkin’ that we may be able to
find a few supplies.” Angus catches his brother’s eye in the rearview mirror.
“You got your gun?”

Axl holds it up.

“Why do you need a gun? It’s just a
campsite,” Parvarti says.

“Protection.” Axl rolls his eyes.

“You ain’t livin’ in the same world you
was a few weeks ago, darlin’,” Angus says. “Things are ‘bout to get real ‘round
here. Just wait.”

Trey and Parvarti look at Angus like
he’s insane, but he’s right. People are desperate. That makes them
unpredictable.

His moves to the door, but stops and
turns toward me. His lips are still pursed and he studies me for a few seconds.
The hair on my scalp prickles. I can’t read his expression. What’s he thinking?

“You were serious ‘bout being a good
shot?” he finally says.

My heart races. Is it possible that he’s
going to give me my gun back? “No point in having a gun unless you learn how to
shoot it.”

Approval flashes in his eyes. “I can
trust you not to blow my head off?”

“As long as you don’t give me a reason
to.”

He chuckles and bends down, reaching
under the front seat. When he sits back up my gun is in his hand. “Here. Why
don’t ya come with us? Give us a hand.”

I wrap my fingers around the gun. Just
having it in my hand makes Angus seem less threatening.

“Everybody sit tight,” Angus calls as he
opens the front door and steps out.

I hop onto the dusty ground, and Axl
climbs out of the back. His gun is held tightly in his right hand. He raises it
to chest level as we walk. Angus is more laid back. He keeps his gun tucked
into his waistband, pulling his shirt up just enough to make it visible.

“Anyone here?” Angus calls out as he
approaches the car.

Axl walks on his brother’s right,
keeping his gun up. His eyes dart around. My heart pounds and I tighten my grip
on my own gun.

Angus goes to the driver’s side and
looks in the window while Axl goes to the passenger side. A thick layer of dust
coats the car. It hasn’t been driven in a couple of days at least. Angus tries
the front door while I look through the back window. No one is inside, but
there are boxes. Even a case of bottled water.

“It’s locked on this side,” Axl says.

“Same here.” Angus frowns. “Let’s check
out the tent. Maybe we can find the keys.”

I’ve only taken two steps toward the
tent when it hits me. A heavy, putrid smell that makes me gag and causes my
stomach to lurch. I stop and turn my head, coughing and breathing in slowly
through my mouth as bile rises in my throat.

Axl stops next to me. “You okay?”

I nod and swallow. “Yeah. I’m alright.”

Angus rolls his upper lip in disgust.
“Come on.”

The tent door is open. It blows back and
forth, flapping in the breeze. I cover my nose when we get closer and try to
fight the nausea. The last thing I need is to get on Angus’s bad side again.
Not after he just gave my gun back.

We’re two feet from the tent when
something inside moves. All three of us stop dead in our tracks. My heart jumps
to my throat, and I drop my hand from my nose, wrapping it firmly around my
gun.

Angus grabs the gun out of his waistband
and looks over at his brother. “You hear that?” he whispers.

Axl nods. None of us move. A scratching
sound comes from inside, and it may be my imagination, but I swear something
brushes up against the side of the tent.

“Anybody in there?” Angus calls out, a
little louder than necessary.

No response. Then more movement.

Axl takes one hand off his gun. He
points to his brother, then over toward the tent. Angus nods, and they both look
back at me. I nod and raise my gun. Angus tucks his back in his waistband. He
takes a step forward. Axl and I follow, both of us hold our guns tightly in our
hands. Aiming right at the door to the tent.

More movement. Something is definitely
in there.

My heart pounds when Angus stops. He
glances back at Axl, then reaches forward. The door flaps. Back and forth.
Something inside scratches against the ground and brushes against the side of
the tent. This time I’m sure it’s not my imagination.

I tense and move my finger to the
trigger, automatically checking to make sure the safety is off. My heart pounds
in my ears. Angus reaches for the door. He doesn’t look back at us, but he
holds his right hand up, extending three fingers. Slowly he lowers one, then another.
When he gets down to one I suck in a deep breath. He jerks the door back.
Something flies from the tent.

“Damn!” I yell, taking my finger off the
trigger as I jump back. The giant bird swoops by my head, screeching at me as
it soars into the sky, joining his friends.

“Thought you were gonna shoot,” Axl says
with a grin.

It’s the first genuine smile I’ve seen
out of him. He has a dimple in his right cheek.

I laugh. My heart is still pounding as I
put the safety back on. “I almost peed my pants.”

Axl laughs and looks back at the tent.
Angus stands there with the door pulled aside, peering in. I catch a glimpse of
what used to be two people and squeeze my eyes shut, gagging. They are very
dead. The birds and other animals have gotten to them.

“Think it was the virus?” Axl asks.

The canvas rustles as the brothers step
inside, but I turn my back to the tent. The images of those poor people will be
burned into my brain for the rest of my life. I couldn’t even tell if they were
men or women. There was just nothing left…

A sleeping bag unzips. Something rustles
around inside, like Angus and Axl are digging through their belongings.

“Don’t see any other injuries. Just what
the animals did,” Angus replies.

I can’t listen to them, so I tuck my gun
into my pants and walk over to what used to be the fire. They’re still inside
when I carry the camp chairs back to the car.

“What was in the tent?” Trey asks.

“Two people. Or what was left of them,
anyway. Looks like the virus killed them. Animals took care of the rest.”

“What now?” Joshua asks.

I shake my head and glance toward the
tent just as the brothers step out. “I think they were looking for keys to the
car. There could be some useful things.”

“You’re just going to steal their
stuff?” Parvarti looks so young and innocent.

“We’re not stealing it. We’re
scavenging.” I sigh. I hate to be harsh, but she needs a dose of reality.
“Look, Angus is an ass, but he’s right. Things have changed. Maybe it’s
temporary. Maybe things will get better. But if not…” I shake my head and turn
away. Angus and Axl step out of the tent and head toward the Honda. “Just think
about it,” I say over my shoulder.

I stop in front the Honda just as Angus
unlocks the front door.

“Open the trunk,” I call.

He nods and the trunk pops open.

“Jackpot.”

There are two boxes full of canned food
and two suitcases. These people were prepared. Grunting, I lug the boxes out of
the trunk and drop them on the ground, then turn back to the suitcases. They
aren’t small. It takes a minute to wrestle the first one out. It’s wedged in
pretty good, and I have to pull on it with all my strength. It finally jerks
free, and I stumble back a few steps, dropping it to the ground.

“You need help back there?” Axl calls
out.

“I’m good.” I lean down to unzip the
suitcase.

It’s full of clothes. Women’s clothes.
They aren’t pretty, but that doesn’t matter in a post-apocalyptic world.
Hopefully, I’ll never need to wear them. For now, I’m going to hang onto them.
I dig a little more and find a small bag of toiletries—always handy—and a
couple pairs of shoes. Something I do need.

I pull out a blue-and-white Nike and
look inside. An eight. I’m a seven and a half, but a little big is better than
nothing. I sit on my butt and pull off my wedge heels, then shove them in the
bag. I’m not ready to completely give up on the idea of pretty things, so I’m
keeping them. I find some white socks and pull those and the Nikes on. My feet
hurt less already.

Once that’s done, I zip the suitcase
back up and inspect the second one. I open it before I drag it out. Men’s
clothes, just like I thought it’d be. I throw it on the ground next to the
other one. Shoved behind the suitcases are a couple of blankets. They’re thick
and flannel, exactly what we need. I toss them on top of the boxes, and the
trunk is empty.

I head over to the passenger side, where
Axl digs through the car. A case of water and another box of food sits on the
ground. This one is full of snack items: chips, bags of cookies, granola bars.
Things like that.

“Find anything good?” Axl asks me.

He has a purse in his lap. I pick up the
wallet and my hands shake. Do I want to know who this woman was?

“Suitcases with clothes, couple boxes of
canned goods and some blankets.” I don’t look at him. I stare at the wallet in
my hands.

“No money in there,” he says. He looks
up from the purse and his eyes narrow on me.

“I was just curious who she was.”

He nods like he understands. Probably
does. No way Angus would.

I flip the wallet open. Her picture
stares at me from her license. Amy Winston, born January 26, 1976. Lived in
Peoria, AZ. Must have been where they were headed. Where were they coming from?

“You two ‘bout finished?” Angus calls.

I toss the wallet on top of the purse
and head to the back of the car. Angus stands there with a duffle bag slung over
his shoulder and a toolbox in his hand.

“What’d you get?” he asks.

“Clothes, mostly. Figured we’d take them
since we have plenty of room. Just in case we end up needing them.”

He frowns. “Try to cut it down to one
suitcase. We’re gonna need some more survival gear.”

He’s right. God, I hate that he’s right.

My gun digs into my hip when I kneel
down and unzip both suitcases. But I get busy sorting the clothes.

Angus walks away, and Axl comes up
behind me. I glance over my shoulder just in time to catch him checking out my
ass as he picks up the box of food. My cheeks burn. I look away before he
realizes I saw him.

It doesn’t take long to go through the
suitcases. I keep anything that looks warm. It’s fall, and if things don’t get
sorted out before winter, we’re going to need them. I get to my feet just as
Axl comes back to get the second box. I end up leaving my wedge shoes, which
hurts less than I expected it to.

“Got everything?”

I nod and walk toward the car. “Do you
think we’re overreacting?”

His eyebrows pull together. “Hard to
say. All the lyin’ is what bothers me. If things ain’t that bad, why are they
hidin’ so much from us?”

I stop and turn to face him. “Where’d
you guys steal the car?”

He inhales sharply. “Who says we did?”

“I figured it out. You just confirmed it
this morning when the cops stopped us. I don’t care. I’m just curious.” Guilt
tugs at me, but I can’t give in to it. Things are different now.

Axl sighs. “Swiped it from my boss. The
guy was a prick.”

“What about all the gear? You steal that
from him too?”

“Damn,” Axl mutters. “We didn’t hurt no
one, understand? We held up a few convenience stores, outside St. Louis.
They’re rakin’ in the dough right now. Everybody buyin’ gas. We took the money
and bought as much survival gear as we could.”

There was something on the news about
that. When I was at that diner.

“Is it gone?” It would be nice to have
enough money for gas and food, as well as some more gear. Who knows if we’ll
come across another abandoned car anytime soon.

He narrows his eyes. “Why?”

“I’m not going to steal it from you. I
just want to know what we have to work with.”

He studies me for a second and then
nods. “We still got some. Enough to get us more supplies and gas.”

I start walking again. “Good.”