Charges (42 page)

34

Vincenzo was happy to accept his first shower in over a week. The thing wasn’t a very elaborate affair, just an overhead bag in a shower stall. The water was cold, and he had to get wet, switch off the drip to lather up, then turn it back on just long enough to rinse. An added bonus: he was able to shave, and scraping away two weeks’ worth of beard made him feel like a different man.

The kids were bathed as well, in an actual tub with heated water. According to Mrs. Koontz, the matronly woman minding the kids, Daniel had been fussy and combative, but she managed to get him clean.

“The young boy has diaper rash,” she told Vincenzo. “Don’t you have some ointment you could put on him after diaper changes?”

“Uh, no,” Vincenzo said.

The woman harrumphed. “Well, perhaps you could trade for some, since you’ll be traveling with him.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll try to do that.” But he wondered if trading for ointment was really that high of a priority. He didn’t recall Daniel complaining, but Vincenzo figured he needed to be a little more vigilant since the boy was mostly nonverbal.

“Missy or Terrell can help you with that,” Mrs. Koontz said. “Really, you need to follow through on it. The boy needs to be taken care of until you can get him to his mother. And by the way, Terrell told me you have no booster seats in your truck. You might want to remedy that, as well.”

The look the she gave him made Vincenzo feel as though he were being lectured by a very stern nun.
Just like Sister Mary at Saint Francis in the good old days.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, attempting to sound agreeable just in case the older woman had a ruler she might slap across his knuckles. “So, uh, where are the kids?”

“Eating lunch, of course. They’re
very
hungry,” Mrs. Koontz said.

“Lunch does sound pretty good right about now,” Vincenzo said.

She sniffed and pointed down the hallway. “The children are down there. You brought food, so feel free to have some. And I might recommend you take the time to do some laundry.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Vincenzo said.

Mrs. Koontz left with another sniff, heading in the opposite direction. Vincenzo ambled down the hall and found a small dining area. Both of the kids were there, as were Missy and Forrest. Missy seemed engrossed in Daniel, who appeared mostly oblivious to her presence. Gabby was engaged in an animated conversation with Forrest, but she looked up when Vincenzo walked in.

“Hi, Tony!” she fairly shouted.

“Hi, Gabby. Hi, Daniel,” Vincenzo responded. “What are you guys eating?”

“I got a salami san’widge,” Gabby said. “Daniel has more macaroni.”

“A salami sandwich? Where did you get that?” Vincenzo asked.

“From Mister Forrest! He made it with
mustard
and
potato chips
!”

Vincenzo looked over at Forrest. The big man smiled thinly.

“Well, I always liked potato chips on my sandwiches,” he said.

Vincenzo smiled. “Hey, man, nothing wrong with that. Listen, Mrs. Koontz advised me that I need to get some ointment for Daniel. I guess I’m having some trouble keeping him clean out in the world, and he’s developing some diaper rash. Could I trade you something for it?”

“And car seats,” Missy added, looking up from Daniel.

Vincenzo nodded. “Yeah, and car seats.”

“Well, those you might be able to pick up on the road,” Forrest said. “Check in the abandoned vehicles you come across. We have some here, but it wasn’t exactly an item we stocked up on, and as you might have noticed, we do have kids here.”

“There
are
kids here,” Gabby said. “I saw them.”

“You sure did, little girl,” Forrest said, and in that instant, Vincenzo saw that the burly survivalist who feared an attack by the United Nations was just another big lug who loved kids. “Anyway, yeah, we have what you need. We can arrange a trade.”

“Thanks,” Vincenzo said. “If it’s okay with you, I’ll head down to the truck and grab some chow. What do I owe you for the salami and chip sandwich?”

“Oh, that’s on the house,” Forrest said. “We’re good.”

“Well, thanks.”

Vincenzo ate a warm meal and watched as Gabby and Daniel were introduced to a small group of their peers. Gabby immediately set about playing with them, whereas Daniel maintained his distance, both physically and emotionally. He seemed totally uninterested in other kids, focusing only on his hanger or flipping through the pages of a book. Whenever any of the other kids tried to get him involved in a game, Daniel ignored them. But Vincenzo could see the boy was getting stressed. His free-form vocalizations became more strident, and he flipped the hangar with more urgency.

Missy walked over to stand beside Vincenzo. “Looks like he’s starting to destabilize,” she said.

“Yeah. Maybe I should take him for a walk,” Vincenzo said.

“I can do that, if you don’t mind.”

Vincenzo looked at her. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “Of course.” She kept her face blank, but Vincenzo could see the undercurrent of some strong emotion in her eyes.

“If you think you can handle him, sure,” Vincenzo said. “I guess I’ll stay here with Gabby.”

“She’ll be fine if you want to come with me,” Missy said.

Gabby was decisively engaged with her new playmates, and Mrs. Koontz had returned to oversee their activities. So Vincenzo went with Missy and Daniel for a walk around the inside perimeter of the compound. Daniel seemed happier outside. After a few minutes, he ran ahead, his attention divided between the hanger in his right hand and the greenery on the other side of the tall fence. Armed men and women regarded him with cool eyes. Missy waved to them, and they always waved back.

“Looks like he prefers it out here,” Vincenzo said, watching Daniel dart and bob in front of them, as if he were playing an imaginary game of tag.

“He probably does,” Missy said. “Autistic kids can get stressed in social situations. Too much sensory input hitting them all at once.” She glanced over at him. “You know anything about autism, Tony?”

Vincenzo shook his head. “Aside from what I saw in
Rain Man
, not really.”

“You need to get him to his people as soon as you can. Whatever’s happening out there is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.”

“Yeah, the UN thing,” Vincenzo said.

Missy looked at him sharply. “Don’t think Forrest is an idiot because he loves the country and thinks it’s being driven into the ground to appease external interests. He’s not wrong, you know. Maybe a little too convinced that it’s all happening as we speak, but he’s not wrong.”

Vincenzo raised his hands. “Hey, I didn’t mean anything.”

“It’s okay. I understand it’s a little odd to people who aren’t like us.”

“You think the UN is going to take over the country, too?”

Missy shrugged. “I don’t know. I do know our government is ruining the country, though. We were a diminished nation even before the event.”

Daniel became suddenly fascinated with his fluttering fingers. Then he took off in a staggering run again.

She pointed at him. “He needs a lot of therapy. A lot of care. Are you ready to take care of him, Tony? What if something goes wrong on the way to Charity Point? What if you lose your vehicle?”

Vincenzo considered her questions. “I don’t know,” he said after a long moment. “Are you suggesting I leave him and his sister here with you guys?”

Missy shook her head sadly. “Forrest won’t allow it. We’ve already had that discussion. He’s sympathetic, but he knows we’re in for the long haul. We have what we have for who we have to provide for. He agrees that turning away the needy, especially children, isn’t very Christian, but he’s being pragmatic.”

“Pragmatic,” Vincenzo repeated. “Okay.”

“It sounds harsh, but he’s not that way as a person. He cares. More than anything, he cares. But this is going to go on for years, and we always knew that if we had to start up this place, then it was going to be for us, no one else.”

“It’s a vicious world out there, Missy. And it’s getting worse by the day. The government can’t seem to get a handle on things, and it’s been more than just a couple of days.”

“I know that. We know that. Things are going to get a lot worse, especially as we get closer to winter. But Forrest is the leader, and he’s been doing right by us. Everyone knows we’ll have to make some tough calls, but we didn’t invest so much in this place to let it be overrun by those who didn’t think to prepare.” Missy gave him a sideways look. “You’re lucky I was out there at the OP. If Terrell had been the watch commander, he would have let you guys go, and if you’d found him, he would have taken everything you had.”

Vincenzo grunted. He figured Terrell was that kind of man, and hearing Missy confirm it was oddly validating, in a way. “I guess luck is part of it. At least I’ll be able to score some ointment for Daniel’s little butt. Don’t think I’m not thankful for the generosity you’ve shown us, though.
 
I appreciate everything you’ve done for us.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, and there was a heavy gravity in her voice that resonated with Vincenzo.

They watched Daniel cavort across the ground, chirping in a sing-song voice and having a one-sided conversation that only he would ever understand.

“I had a daughter,” Vincenzo blurted. “She was born prematurely. She died, and my wife kind of died with her. She was never the same after that. Everything was different. She treated me differently, treats our son differently. That’s why I need to get back to Los Angeles. She’s not ready for this, and my boy is going to suffer along with her.” Vincenzo stopped walking. “So that’s why I’d like you to ask Forrest about watching over the kids again. I’m not ready to take care of them. I have someplace I need to be. And to be truthful, taking care of people is not something I’ve ever been very good at. I’ve met my quota on that, and while Daniel and Gabby are beautiful kids, they’re holding me up.”

“I’ll speak to him again,” Missy said. “But I’m pretty sure I know what the answer will be. You’re stuck with them, Tony. And if you don’t take them with you, Forrest and Terry and the others won’t take kindly to that. You might forfeit everything you have. That truck. That gear. Everything has a cost, and everyone has to pay sometime.”

Vincenzo sighed. “Ask him again. If the answer’s no, then we’re out of your hair. I’ll get the kids to their mother, but it seems like it’s something I’ll need to do sooner rather than later.”

###

An hour later, Tony was leaning over the Blazer’s engine to check the oil when Forrest approached. Gabby and Daniel were in a play area with a couple of other children, under the watchful gaze of the hawkish Mrs. Koontz. There was an air of hostility around the big man, and when he stopped next to Vincenzo, he practically towered over him, even though Vincenzo was standing on the Blazer’s big bumper.

“You got some nerve, guy,” Forrest said.

“How so?”

“Sending Missy to ask that the kids be allowed to stay. You just want to palm them off on us while you roll away in another man’s ride, with another man’s supplies, so you can go off and do whatever you want to do.”

Vincenzo straightened. “It’s not what I
want
to do, guy. It’s what I
have
to do.”