Commodity (7 page)

“I could go,” I say quietly.  It’s the first thought that comes to my mind to try to diminish the tension between the two.  The look on Falk’s face is making me nervous, and Beck seems happy to keep poking the bear.

“You’re staying here,” Falk says definitively.

“Well, that was certainly an order!” Beck says with a laugh.  “Why don’t you let the lady make her own choices?”

“It’s fine, really,” I say quickly.  “I don’t care one way or the other.  I was just saying I could—”

“You’re staying here,” Falk says again.  He looks over to me and gives me a stern look.  “You need to rest your leg, and we’re going to find decent shelter for the night.  I don’t want to waste the time getting back to my place until I know for sure what else I need.”

“Seems like that’s something you could do on your own,” Beck says.

“I’ll go,” Caesar pipes up.  “God knows what you’d consider nutrition anyway.  Ryan and I can check it out and bring back what we need for a couple of days.  Maybe we’ll find more survivors as well.”

“Better ask him if that’s okay,” Beck says with a snort.  “Maybe he’s already got you pegged for wood gathering.”

Beck stomps back off toward his house, and Caesar sighs.

“Don’t mind him,” he says quietly.  “Everything he’s ever owned was in that place.   He’s just in shock.”

I look down at the ground, unsure what to do or say next.  Conflict has always made me uncomfortable, but recently my life has revolved around it, and I don’t like it.  Whenever I witness people arguing, it reminds me of how my parents would fight when I was young.

“I’ll get him to go with me,” Caesar says.  “Is there anything you need?”

“See if there are any camping supplies,” Falk says, “especially lanterns and batteries.  Flashlights, too.”

“Will those batteries work?” Caesar asks.

“They worked in my flashlight.  Maybe the alkaline ones are fine.  We’ll just have to figure it out as we go.”

“Will do.”  Caesar heads off.

A crash from near Beck’s house catches our attention.  Beck is kicking at the rubble and screaming obscenities while Caesar tries to calm him down.

“Asshole,” Falk mutters under his breath.

“Beck?”

He glances over at me, his eyes dark, but doesn’t speak.

“You don’t like him.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because in the infantry, we hate everyone else.”  Falk hefts the rifle over his shoulder.  “Also, because he’s a liar.”

“How do you know that?”

“He’s an anthropology professor with an assault rifle.  You don’t find that odd?”

“I didn’t really think about it.  You have a lot more guns than he does.”

“I have a reason for it.”

“Maybe he’s been waiting for the zombies, too.”  I smile, trying to make light of the antagonism, but Falk isn’t amused.

“Stay clear of him,” Falk says with a growl.

“How am I going to do that?”

“Just stick by me.”

“Fine.”  I’m frustrated by the nature of Falk’s answers.

Falk doesn’t get a chance to respond.  Beck and Caesar walk back to us.

“We’re heading to the store,” Caesar says.  “Ryan’s going to stick around and help find a good place to set up camp for the night.  We can talk about what to do tomorrow when we get back.”

“All right,” Falk says without looking up.  “Check the cars in the area.  Look for something new enough and sporty enough to have a lithium battery.  We’re going to need transportation options.”

Beck’s jaw tenses and he glares at Falk.  Caesar reaches out and pushes against Beck’s arm before he says anything.

“I can do that,” he says as he pulls Beck away.

Falk watches them walk off.  Caesar puts his arm around Beck’s shoulders, and I think he’s speaking into his ear.  Beck glances over his shoulder a couple of times before they move around a corner and out of sight.

“What is it?” I ask quietly.

Falk’s eyes stay on the men as they walk off.  His expression is still dark and tense.

“Just a feeling,” he finally says.

“Do you trust them?” I look to Ryan, but he’s sifting through rubble near Beck’s house and not paying attention to us.

“No, Hannah.  I don’t.”

“Should have just taken you back to my place,” Falk mumbles.

He has set up a campsite away from the buildings, saying it’s safer in case there is more collapse, but he doesn’t seem to like the location.  I can’t tell if I’m supposed to respond to his mutterings or not, so I say nothing.

I think I’m still in shock.

Caesar and Beck return with a load of supplies pilfered from the local supermarket, loaded into a large garden cart.  They’ve got sleeping bags and tents, food, and a couple of camp stoves.  Falk sets up one of the tents before coming over to me.

“This is awkward, so I’m just going to come out with it,” he says.  “I want you in the same tent with me.  I don’t trust these guys, and I don’t want you alone.  I hope that’s all right with you.”

“It’s all right,” I say.  If I am being honest with myself, I don’t want to be alone, and I know Falk better than anyone else here.  “But you have to explain to me why you don’t trust them.”

He looks into my eyes for a long moment, and his face finally relaxes a little.

“I will,” he says, “after they go to sleep.”

“Deal.”  I smile at him, but it’s not returned.

Falk goes to the cart to get some of the supplies for the tent, refusing my offers to help him, so I go and sit down near a small fire Ryan has going.  I’m not cold at all—the sweatshirt Falk found for me is quite warm—but the fire is still nice.

“So, how long you two been together?” Ryan asks.

“What?”  It takes me a moment to realize what he’s assumed, and I quickly shake my head.  “We’re not together like that.  We were just…traveling together.  Our flight was cancelled, and we ended up in the city an extra night.”

I glance in Falk’s direction, but the sun has set, and all I can see is the flicker of his flashlight.  He never did explain why he didn’t want me talking to anyone, but I can hardly avoid it now.  Besides, Ryan seems harmless enough.

“Damn.”  Ryan whistles.  He shuffles a couple of rocks around the edge of the fire to keep it enclosed.  “Maybe you could have avoided all this if you had gotten out in time.”

“It’s not just here.”  Caesar joins us and tosses more wood on the fire, sending sparks flying.

“How do you know that?” Ryan asks.

“If it was limited to the Atlanta area, someone would have come by now,” he explains.  “State authorities, the National Guard—someone.  We’d see planes overhead, but there haven’t been any.  Not a single jet trail.”

I look up at the sky, and there isn’t a single blinking light up there.  No signs of life at all.  I curl my legs underneath me and bite at the edge of my thumb.

“That makes sense,” Ryan says with a nod.  “So how widespread do you think it is?”

“There’s no real way to tell.”  Caesar picks up a stick and pokes at the embers.  “I don’t think you’d like my opinion.”

“What is it?” I ask.

The beam from Falk’s flashlight crosses in front of me, and I turn my head as he sits on the ground next to me.  He looks over at Caesar and gives him a little nod.

“Go on,” Falk says.  “Let’s hear it.”

“Same thing you’re thinking,” Caesar says.  “This hasn’t been an invasion by anyone close by.”

“What do you mean ‘close by’?”  Ryan grabs the bottle of scotch and opens it as Caesar hands him a couple of red plastic cups.

“This wasn’t some terrorist group.  They don’t have that kind of firepower.  They couldn’t have taken out one city like that, and this goes way beyond Atlanta.”

“What was it then?” I ask.

“There’s really only one plausible answer,” Falk says slowly.

I look back and forth between him and Caesar, but neither offers any further explanation.  They’re being obtuse, and it’s pissing me off, and I finally snap at them both.

“Whatever the hell you two are thinking, spit it out!”  I address them both, but my eyes are on Falk.

“Alien invasion,” he says.

“Alien?” I repeat.  “You mean, like aliens from outer space?”

He nods, and I laugh out loud, but everyone just looks at me until I stop.

“Are you serious?”  He can’t be.  The whole idea is ludicrous.

“You have a better idea?”

“Anything but that!”

“It’s the only thing that fits what we know,” Caesar says.  “The most destructive force we have is nukes.  If Atlanta had been nuked, it would have taken everyone with it, not just men.  There’s no explanation for the women and children disappearing.”

“Dogs, too,” I add.  “Maybe cats.”

“I hadn’t thought about it,” Caesar says, “but you’re right.  I haven’t seen a single dog or cat.”

“Humans don’t have the kind of technology to do something like this,” Falk says as he scratches the back of his head.  “There’s nothing that kills exposed men and evaporates women, children, and domestic animals.”

“So your first thought is little green men?” Ryan questions.  “Isn’t there some other possibility?”

“You think the plants have risen up, pissed about the ozone layer?” Beck joins the circle between Caesar and Ryan.

“There weren’t any spaceships.”  I point this out in hopes of another idea coming into someone’s head.

“If they were up far enough, we wouldn’t have seen them,” Caesar says.  “Whatever happened wasn’t the result of technology that comes from here.  If it’s not from here, that makes it extraterrestrial.”

“There could be something we don’t know about,” I say.  “A secret weapon.”

“A weapon that makes women and children disappear?  What year do you think you live in?”  Beck snickers.

Everyone is silent for a few minutes, sipping their scotch and staring at the fire.

“What do they want?” I ask.

“My best guess,” Caesar says, “it that they’re here for you.”

I grasp my biceps with my hands and suck in a breath.

“Let go of me!  What do you want?”

“We want you, baby.  We’re here for you!”

“Hannah.”  Falk’s voice is in my ear and his hand is on my leg.  “Caesar’s speaking figuratively.”

“Wha-what?”

“I meant for women in general,” Caesar says.  “And children, apparently.  That’s what they took, so I assume that’s what they’re here for.”

“Not you specifically,” Falk says, clarifying.

“So, you both think that some green, bug-eyed monsters came down and took all the women?  Am I supposed to believe that?”  Ryan huffs a laugh out his nose and leans back to finish his drink.

“It makes sense.”  Beck grabs the bottle of scotch.  He fills one of the plastic cups and takes a big gulp.  “But how come she’s still here, and are there any other women left?”

“It took a day just to find you three,” Falk says.  “There are others out there, and some of them are bound to be women or children.  Seems like being underground kept all of us safe.  There have to have been others in similar shelters.”

“This is ridiculous,” I say softly.

“Which part of it?” Falk asks.

“All of it.”

“I’m still waiting for your better explanation.”  He raises his eyebrows at me.

“I can’t talk about this.”  I stand up and hold my hand out for Falk’s flashlight.  “I’m going to sleep.  You all can continue to talk nonsense if you want.  Maybe we’ll find someone tomorrow—maybe a whole National Guard unit is right around the corner.”

Falk hands me the flashlight without another word, and I stomp to the tent.

Aliens.  How fucking insane is that?

I kick my shoes off outside the tent and pull back the flap to duck inside.  I use the flashlight to look around, seeing the two sleeping bags laid out side-by-side, a small cooler in the corner, and a battery powered lantern nearby.  I turn the lantern on and switch off the flashlight.

I can still hear mumbled talking outside but try to ignore it as best I can.  I pull off my sweats and socks and shove my legs into the sleeping bag.  The sleeping bag feels cold against my bare skin, but the material is that funky fabric that’s supposed to hold your body heat, so I’m sure it will warm up soon.

  I sit with my head in my hands, rubbing at my eyes.  I know I told Falk I was going to keep it together, but I think I’m allowed a little bit of a private breakdown.

What if he’s right?

If it is an alien invasion, Washington, D.C. would certainly have been hit.  Is there any point in going there now?

There’s a rustle near the door of the tent, and I almost expect to see a grey-green creature with big eyes and an egg-shaped head come through the flap, but it’s only Falk.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” he says.

“You didn’t,” I lie.  I pull the sleeping bag up a little farther.

Falk steps over me to sit on the sleeping bag at the back of the tent.  He pulls off his socks and shirt before crawling inside, and I stare at the tent door to avoid looking at his chest.  I’m very aware of how small the tent is and how close Falk’s body is to mine as he lies down beside me.

“Should I turn off the light?” I ask quietly.

“Yes.  Don’t want to waste batteries.”

I nod and push the button that shuts off the lantern.  I scoot farther into the sleeping bag and pull it up to my chin as I lie down.  I can hear the fire crackling outside and my own breathing, but that’s it.

“Do you really believe all that?” I ask into the darkness.  “All that shit about aliens?”

“I don’t have a better theory.”

“Do you think they’re going to come back?”

“Hard to speculate,” he says.  “If they came here for women and children…well, they got those.  If that’s all they wanted, they don’t have a reason to come back.  If that was just the first wave of an attack…”

His voice trails off, and I think about what he’s saying.  Is it possible?  If not aliens, then what?  Caesar was right—we don’t have the kind of technology that explains what happened.

“I felt something,” I say quietly.  “I felt something when we were in the tunnel by the train—right before things started collapsing.”

“What do you mean?”

“There was a…a sound.  Did you hear it?  It was really low pitched.  It hurt my ears.”

“Yeah, I heard it.”

“When I heard that sound, it felt like…like I was being lifted off the ground.  When the sound stopped, that’s when I fell.”

Falk is quiet for a minute.

“That’s when they took the others,” he says finally.  “You were too far underground for them to get to you, but you could still feel it.”

“I don’t know…maybe.  I can’t wrap my head around all of this, Falk.  I was prepared to talk to the government about what Hudson was doing.  I wasn’t prepared for…for whatever the hell is going on here.”

“I thought you might be relieved you don’t have to testify,” Falk says.

“Yeah, well…”  I let out a long breath and chuckle to myself.  “I have to admit, I wasn’t looking forward to it.  With all the threats, I really didn’t think I would make it all the way to the Pentagon to even give my statement.”

“I wasn’t going to let them get to you.”

“I know you were going to try, but…”  A shiver runs through me.  “Did you hear what he said?  What Hudson said when they took him away?  It was in the transcripts.”

“Only that he threatened you.”

“He said I was as good as dead.  It didn’t matter where I went or who I had around me.  They were going to find me, and when they did, I was going to die.  He didn’t even stop yelling when they dragged him off.   He was completely serious, and I believed him.”

“He’s probably dead now,” Falk says.  “You don’t have to think about him anymore.”

“It’s not that easy.”

In the dark silence, I can hear Falk’s steady breathing along with my own.  There’s a crackle from the fire outside, and I imagine someone has added more wood to it though the voices have stopped.

“Do you want to tell me about what happened?” Falk asks.

I tense as memories begin to flash through my mind.  I shake my head sharply.

“No,” I tell him.  “Not now.  Maybe someday.”

“All right.”  He shifts, and I think he’s rolled from his back to his side.  “If you ever decide you want to, I’m here.”

“Thanks.”  I’m not sure the time will ever come even though I’ve told the story a dozen times.  Falk said he had read up on me, so he probably knows most of it anyway.  I don’t know why he would want to hear more of it.

“I asked for this assignment,” Falk suddenly admits.

“You did?  Why?”

“You impressed me.”

“How so?”

“Tyler Hudson is one of the most influential people in the country,” Falk says.  “I met him years ago when he first started working with government contracts.  I didn’t like him from the moment I saw him.  Everyone knew he was shifty, but no one ever stood up to him.  His money always talked louder than anything anyone ever said about him.  Then I heard about this young woman who found something, dug in, and reported it.  Then she didn’t just report it, but when he tried to take her out, she escaped and reported him again.  She had enough sense to go straight to the hospital and get his DNA collected.  She never backed down even though she knew her life was in danger.  That’s impressive, Hannah.”