Revolution (12 page)

             
"Thanks," I said wryly. "That just means the world, Miguel."

             
"Look, don't have a piff. I'm just saying is all. Things would be less… interesting without you around. Cain and Danny wouldn't have anyone to pickle with."

             
"That's true." I glanced at him sideways. "They do like to…pickle me."

             
"You know what I gettin
' at. Come off it!" he feigned anger and punched my arm. "I'm not about to cry on your shoulder, mate, I'm just saying…glad you're not dead."

             
"Well, I'm glad I'm not dead, too. Thanks." I hoisted another box and aske
d, "So, that Rylee is a hellcat
, huh?"

             
"Hellcat?" he scoffed. "Pfft. She's a pussycat, that one. All meow and no bite."

             
"Her teeth looked pretty sharp to me," I ventured and peeked at him to see his look of pondering.

             
"Well, I guess she's all right. She's prickly, but aren’t all gingers that way?"

             
"Never met a redhead except for Kay before. I have no idea."

             
"Well, I've met
loads of them and it's all in the genes. Like I said, she's harmless-" Miguel "oomphed" when a box slammed into his chest.

             
"Standing around doing nothing
, Aussie? Wow." Rylee
clapped. "I won the bet. Chivalry
is
dead. Hey, Jethro!" she yelled, cupping her mouth with her hands. "You owe me five bucks!"

             
"Listen here, Red, I'm doing plenty." He shoved the box into the back of the van all crooked and out of order. I rolled my eyes and fixed it as he went back to bantering with Rylee. "I'm keeping my eyes glued to the sky watching for something that might come and take your pretty
little
head off."

             
"Aw, you think my head is pretty," she said in her best girly voice and batted her eyelashes. Miguel was turned from me so I couldn't see his face, but he didn't say anything. Eventually her playful smile turned down and then she…blushed! She turned quickly and practically ran back inside the store.

             
Miguel looked at me with awe etched on his face. "Did you see that! Her cheeks were as red as
that
gorgeous hair."

             
"What did you do?"

             
He coughed. "Nothing. Just, uh, I was thinking
of
what to say, is all."

             
"And what did you come up with?"
             

             
He sighed. "I didn't. I couldn't stop staring at her freckles."

             
I laughed and he glared at me. "What?" I defended. "I remember being a babbling idiot once."

             
"Babbling idiot? What you mean by that?" he barked.

             
"You've got a thing for Rylee," I said slowly. "It's practically tattooed to your forehead."

             
He laughed, exaggeratedly. "Ha! Good one, Keeper. Me, like that red headed cactus? Nah."

             
"You sure are protesting a lot, Miguel." I loaded the last box in and slammed the doors shut, thankful that they shut without jamming from the full load. "She is pretty. Are you telling me she's not?"

             
"She's pretty enough."

             
"Pretty enough for what?"

             
"Someone else!" he barked and started t
o
walk away, but stopped. "Don't tell Sherry about this, ok?"

             
"Ok, Miguel. Your non-existent but totally there crush on the red head who wants to serve your spleen on a platter is safe with me."

             
He grinned. "Thanks, mate."

             
I laughed as he walked away and p
ee
led my sweaty shirt from my body. I threw it over the van top to dry hopefully. It was so hot, it should be criminal. I hoped that since the snow was gone that the new basement we were headed to w
ouldn't be too hot to stay
. We needed a break. We need one thing to go our way.

             
I looked over at Jeff and saw that his shirt was off, too, and he was yelling at Billing
s
to hurry up and quit 'lollygagging'.
I'd n
ever understood that expression.

             
I heard the radio start downstairs. The hatch door and store door were wide open so the sounds drifted to me with a slight echo. I heard Billings yell, "Yeah, Billy Joel! Abou
t time you played something decent
around here."

             
I had no idea who Billy Joel was, but it sounded nice enough.

             
No one had brought me any boxes in a while, even though the van was full, they didn't know that. I trotted through the door to see what was up. Rylee
, Ryan,
Miguel and Max were going at it about when we should leave.

             
Apparently, Max and Rylee were for waiting until nightfall, and Miguel and Ryan were trying to get them to understan
d that we needed to go right then
.

             
"Lickety-split!" Miguel yelled. "You really think they are going to give us the whole day to regroup and not try to ambush us before the da
y's over? You're loopy
."

             
It sounded weird to hear the fighting over Billy Joel's cheerful words. "
For the longest time. Whoa, for the longest time
."

             
Rylee yelled back. "You don't know anything about strategy!"

             
"Ginger, leave this to the big boys, ok?"

             
I felt my mouth open a little at the look she blazed his way. The steam coming from her ears wasn't even the worst part. She walked right up to him and grabbed his shirt front. "You listen here, buddy. I am not some little sweet girl to be tossed in the back with the women and children. I will wield a knife just like the rest of you." Her lip quivered a bit as she went on. "I
deserve
to earn my revenge, just like the rest of you."

             
Miguel caved, just like that. He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. She put up a fight just for show. If she wanted to displace herself, she could've. "I told you, don't pity me."

             
He smiled down at her, and it was a smile I'd never seen on him before. I felt instantly like I was intruding, and judging by the awkward looks on Ryan and Max's faces, they agreed with me.

             
Miguel said low, "So, a guy has to be full of pity to want to put his arms around a pretty girl
with spirit
?" She looked stunned in that girly way that shows that
a guy completely surprised her
. He put his hand behind her head and pulled it to rest on his chest. "Just rest here a bit. And don't you worry about those bastards, love. You and me are gonna make them pay if it's the last thing we do."

             
She sighed as if the weight on her shoulders had been lifted and closed her eyes. I'd never seen her face relaxed like that before. She looked so fragile and tired that way. I guess that's why she never let herself show that. She had this hell bent flag to carry that said she was too strong to be affected.

             
He leaned against the wall at his back and they just stood there, the shadow from the stairs above covered their faces.

             
Daniel leaned over and asked, "What's a ginger?"
             
"Redhead," I answered, knowing what he was going to say next.

             
"Why not just call her
a
redhead?"

             
"Humans have an affinity for nicknames."

             
He looked puzzled, but shrugged and walked back to the hall.
Ryan and Max beat feet to get out of there, so I went to find Sherry and see if she was almost ready. Instead I found Lily. She was in the back corner of the commons room and she was crying. Her arms reached for something
that she couldn't touch
and she jumped and stomped her foot. Then she started to climb the shelf.

             
I blurred to her and caught her up to me. "Whoa, what are you do
ing
, baby?"

             
"My doll," she whined and pointed. "My doll, Miwey, is up there."

             
I looked up and saw the doll's leg sticking out of the shelf from behind a book. I reached in and grabbed her. A small stack of books fell to the ground. I just looked at them. It was pointless to worry about it or clean it up. This wasn't our home anymore. I held the doll out and Lily took it, sighing with relief. With all of Lily's newfound talents - bringing people back to life, healing Daniel and Lillian, seeing Trudy - it was easy to forget that she was still just a child.

             
I kissed her cheek. "Who gave Miley to you?" The poor doll was still missing a leg and ragged.

             
"My sister.
" She stroked her hair lovingly. "I love Joy, but my sissy gave me dis doll and said she had super powers. She had to leave me and said that dis doll would pwotect me. And it did, Daddy!" She looked at me excitedly. "Uncle Jeff and Uncle Miguel found me when I was getting her outta da twash can."

             
I felt a hard tug
o
n the organ in my chest. It pumped sympathy out and made me
squeeze her to me. She patted my neck like I was the one who needed comforting. Maybe I was, but then she said, "Daddy, you're squeezing me."

             
"Sorry, baby," I apologized and leaned back. "You keep your super power doll with you until we get to our new home, all right?"

             
She nodded like it was serious. "I pwomise."

             
"Good girl. Let's go find Mommy."

             
"She's in the kitchen," she said matter-of-factly and swung her arm while holding my hand with the other. "She said it was filthy!"

             
I chuckled. Leave it to Sherry to worry about the kitchen being clean during the possible end of the world.

             
Sherry was wiping the counters and then bent down to scrub the cabinet doors. She bent
directly
from the waist and I felt my lips twist even as I twisted my head to check her out. Those jeans were looking pretty good on her right about then.
Though she was getting so thin, she still was gorgeous.
L
ily ran to the table and snuck
a small pack of
Raisinet
s
. She saw that I caught her, but I nodded and smiled
as she took off
.