Counting Down (19 page)

Kyle stirred and Abby flipped over slowly to face him. She waited to see if her movement would wake him, but his eyes remained closed.
For a short moment she watched his sleeping face, feeling emotion she’d never before experienced. “Good morning,
”
she finally whispered.

At the sound of her voice his eyes fluttered open
slowly
. “It’s still dark.” He pulled her close, pressing her cheek to his chest. “We have a few more hours.”

“It’s almost ten
.
The day of darkness, remember?”

He turned to check the clock on his nightstand. “Oh. We should get up, check on the others.”

Her lips found his neck, nipped at him playfully. She slipped her hands down, trailed her fingers along his side until she hit the waistband of his pants. “I’m sure we can spare another hour or two.”

His hand was immediately on hers, bringing it back up between them. “We need to talk.”

The tone of his voice made her face fall. “That doesn’t sound good.”

Suddenly a knock sounded on the door and Evie’s voice projected into the room. “Hey you guys awake.”

Kyle pushed Abby away an inch and bellowed over his shoulder. “No we’re not!” He spoke again to Abby. “This… thing between us… I should never have let it get so far. It was a mistake.”

Abby wasn’t sure she had heard him right. “What are you talking about?”

One hand flew up to his hair, his fingers combing through the top. “It’s just better if we don’t get too close.”

Abby’s
expression
was
clouded by confusion. Worry
began
danc
ing the polka with heartache
in her gut. “
But dinner and our cheesecake picnic… and we’re here in the same bed together. I don’t understand.
”

“You’re right. That’s my fault. I let this get out of hand. I knew it was wrong to get distracted and I’m sorry. I really am.” His mouth tightened. “I’m just glad we didn’t round second base.”

She clenched her eyes and shook her head. “
Wait.
After last night I thought…”

“Thought what? That we were going to live happily ever after?”

Abby
felts his words like a knife and tried to hide the tears from her voice
. “I thought you felt the same way I felt. I thought you remembered what we are to each other.”

“We can’t afford to get wrapped up in these feelings right now, Abby. I made a mistake and I’m sorry. You should move on, forget last night ever happened. We have jobs to do.”

“But everything’s done now. All we have to do now is get in the bunker. I can
’t
forget. I won’t. Please Callum.”

He flinched at the word. “Please don’t say that name.”

“But it’s who you are. You are that man who was my husband so long ago. I remember you Kyle. I remember the flowers you brought me as a boy, the way you never failed to make me smile even on my darkest day. You are that same man. I see him in your eyes and you see your wife in mine. I know you love me Kyle. I feel it.”

Evie yelled through the door again. “Sorry
to bother you guys
. We were just wondering where to find your towels?”

Kyle sighed, turned his head to shout towards the door again. “Linen closet. Hallway.”

“What?”
Evie’s voice rang out again. “I can’t find them. What did you say?” There was a brief pause as a muffled male voice drifted up the stairs. “And David is yelling up about coffee filters. He says he can’t find a thing in your mess of a kitchen. His words not mine.”

Kyle rubbed a hand across his face. “Have I fallen down a rabbit hole or something?”

Abby rolled her legs over the edge of the bed and sat while she pulled on her jeans.
“We have never been strangers. Please t
alk to me. Help me understand.”

He got out of bed, looking exasperated as he pulled a white tee shirt over his head. “Look, I’m sorry Abby. I can’t do this right now. I told you I wasn’t a nice guy. Just forget about this whole thing, whatever this is between us. Three days ago you had no idea who I was.”

But she had known. Her soul had always know him, always missed him.

“If you’re not a nice guy why didn’t you just sleep with me and call it another notch on your bedpost?”

His mouth opened, closed again. “Because…” He hesitated for a long moment, appearing to rack his brain for a good enough excuse. “Because Jim is a good friend and I wouldn’t want to piss him off.”

Abby watched as Kyle went to the door and slung it open wide. He took big barefoot strides straight into the hallway, past Evie and Hanna to the linen closet. His aggravation was obvious.

Without word or expression he motioned to the closet door like he was a game show spokes model before pulling it open with a yank. “Towels.”

Neither of the women spoke and Kyle descended the stairs fast without another word.

Abby came out of the doorway with a shrug of her shoulders. “Guess he needs some coffee or something.”

Hanna and Evie nodded in unison. “Oh.”

* * *

A few hours later the entire group of
nine was sitting on the porch of the Yellow House, finishing up a late lunch of cold cuts and fruit.

Abby looked at Evie, carefully avoiding Kyle’s face, as she sank her teeth into an apple. “So you’ve just finished a degree in environmental science with a minor in botany?”

Evie nodded, her long dark hair blowing around her exquisite features. “Yes, I basically work with plants. Green things are sort of my specialty.” She bit into an orange slice and paused to chew. “Ever since I was a little kid I’ve had a talent for growing things.”

Evie reminded Abby of one of the Tahitian women Gauguin loved to paint. She was tall and thin, with curves that were the epitome of hourglass. Abby half expected her to pose seductively, tuck a flower behind her ear, and cradle the bowl of oranges in her arms.

Kyle turned to Hanna. “And you’re a med student right?”

Hanna smiled with big perfect teeth.
“Yeah, I’m just second year though.”

Hanna blushed. A pretty shade of red covered her freckles under Kyle’s gaze and Abby frowned. Apparently she wasn’t the only one affected by him.

Kyle walked down the porch stairs and lit himself a cigarette before tossing the pack up to Abby without a word. “Still that will probably come in handy one day. I think we can count on hospitals being closed for business in the near future. Any kind of healer will be a precious member of society.”

Abby didn’t look up but lit herself a dose of nicotine. After the first drag some of the tension in her neck started to fade.

“What’s this? You smoke now?” Alex eyed Abby with a hint of amazement mixed with disgust.

Abby looked up at him. “Focus Alex. We have bigger problems. Besides, this is just end of the world smoking. I’m not falling off the wagon.”

“Oh, end of the world smoking. Right. I think you two are a bad influence on each other.”

This coming from the guy who could suck down a
twelve
pack in a couple of hours, Abby thought. She purposely resisted looking at Kyle.

David chimed in unexpectedly. “That’s an understatement.”

Alex glanced over with a derisive snort. “No one asked you Dave. I know her. She’s a friend of mine. You just got here so you don’t get to have an opinion.”

David didn’t say another word and Abby looked up at Alex with gratitude. “It’s just temporary Alex. Don’t worry.”

Alex only nodded and the conversation continued with Sam and Jake, the two brothers in the group. Sam was an engineer who had graduated from MIT. He was smart but rough around the edges. This guy wasn’t going to wear a pocket protector to save his life. His brother was an electrician. Both of their hands on experience and technical know-how would be valued when the time came to rebuild.

Kyle looked over to David. “What do you do then? You must have some sort of mechanical talent since you’re yellow too.”

“I’m in construction.” He muttered the words with downcast eyes as though he was ashamed to say them. “But I have much bigger plans once I can get the money together for school.”

Jim stood up, walked to the porch railing. “I don’t know if that’s going to work out for you now Dave. There won’t be any colleges to go to pretty soon.”

David shrugged. “That won’t stop me.”

The rest of the group seemed to look around at each other, waiting to see if anyone would have a response. Apparently David had a way of sucking the life out of everyone.

Kyle broke the silence with a quick clap of his hands. “Ok then. We have the mystery of the colors all
figured out
. Blues are Healers, Yellows are Builders, and Greens are… well I guess Greens are Growers.”
He paused momentarily to make sure everyone was in agreement.
“Okay then. Now let’s all make sure we’re packed up and ready to go into the bunker tonight. Everybody pick a bunk, get settled in. Okay?”

There were nods and grumbles as the new group went about gathering their things. Within twenty minutes all nine of them were in the shelter listening to Kyle talk about their new accommodations like he was a real estate agent trying his hardest to sell them on a unique fixer upper.

“This is a modern, state of the art fallout shelter complete with a living area here in the front with tables and bench seating, plus a bathroom with a flush toilet and a grey water shower. The sleeping area is in the back through that there.” He pointed towards the curtain that served as a door. “You’ll find twelve bunks, stacked two by two down the narrow hall. A few of them are being used for storage so we might have to move some things around. It’s going to feel a little bit like a submarine, but at least the curtains on each bed provide some privacy.”

Everyone went to claim a bunk while Kyle, Jim, and Abby stayed in the living space. Kyle moved to the sink where he pulled down a heavy metal door from underneath the counter. “There’s a freezer here full of… well frozen things that can be heated on the stove. I think there’s even a steak somewhere in there.” His smile was small. “The whole place is running on the turbines and solar panels, as you know, but there’s a backup generator too.”

Jim examined a row of small digital screens and buttons. “What’s this here? Radiation meters, environmental controls.” He read the labels blankly.

Kyle flipped a panel down to reveal more buttons. “This stuff controls the heat in here, the air quality, etcetera. And this screen gives a reading for the temperature and radiation above ground. You’re familiar with safe levels?”

Jim nodded. “Yeah, had to learn that in the army. Hazmat training is not an easy experience to forget. I remember what’s good and what’s bad. I’ll be in charge of that if it’s something we need.”

“Okay, good. So that’s about it. You guys know everything else by now.” Kyle glanced at Abby for a millisecond. “We’re as ready as we’re going to be I guess. It’s just a matter of time. Now we sit back and wait for the apocalypse to come.”

Thursday, December 20th 2012, 5:27pm

B
y late afternoon the temperature on the farm had hit somewhere in the high 90s. It was just around the time the sun would normally set when the ash started falling. By six-o-clock the farm looked like a scene stuck inside a poorly designed snow globe.

Any other year there would’ve been holiday cheer blanketing the land instead of a layer of thick, acidic ash. People would be bundled up against the cold and happily caroling through the town. Christmas trees would be lit up inside every home with lights outside, wrapped around porch railings and stapled along rooftops, illuminating each quaint street with electric happiness. But that was not the case this year. This year was a holiday in hell.