Dead Highways: Origins (12 page)

Robinson pulled the car as close as he possibly could and then shut off the engine. “Hope nobody has a problem with walking.”

“If the outside of the store looks like this, I can’t imagine what the inside looks like,” Peaches said.

Five minutes later, after a brisk walk weaving between parked cars, none of us would have to imagine any longer. We had to stop to take it all in, and to not step on someone.

People.

Everywhere.

As far as the eye could see. Down every aisle. At every register, even those that were self-checkout. At customer service. At the pharmacy. Even at the vision center of all places. And guess what else we saw.

Shopping carts.

Everywhere.

Loaded to the brim with all kinds of crap. The cart well, however, was completely empty. If we didn’t want to carry everything around, we’d have to first do some unloading.

After I’d finished cleaning out a nearby cart, I realized one of the wheels was fucked up. “I’m not surprised,” I said, looking at Peaches. “But it’ll have to do.”

We decided to take different parts of the store. Robinson and Bowser would get the groceries while Peaches and I would go after everything else. The worst part was finding open lanes to push the cart through. Did I mention there were people everywhere? Face up, face down, lying all around. On occasion, Peaches would have to help me drag someone out of the way. It was embarrassing for them. The best part, besides the fact that everything in the store today was FREE, was that just like the hospital, Walmart had a backup generator, which meant we could still enjoy the soothing sounds of Lady Gaga broadcasted over the speakers while we shopped.

It took some time, but we found just about everything on the list, minus the generator. In fact, the best place to search wasn’t the shelves (which were often wiped out), but the other shopping carts. Had we been so fortunate to find a cart that contained everything on the list, we could have been back at Robinson’s house already eating dinner. As it was, Robinson and Bowser finished before we did, which wasn’t surprising given that we had more ground to cover.

“No generator?” Robinson asked as we met him back at the front of the store. I shook my head. “Ah well, as long as we got candles we’ll be fine for now. I’ve heard horror stories of people setting their houses on fire with those portable generators anyway.”

I nodded. “But no one’s ever set their house on fire with candles.”

Robinson sighed. “Smart ass.”

We pushed the shopping carts through the metal maze outside back to Robinson’s squad car. We loaded the smaller items into plastic bags before transferring everything to the trunk, and then headed back to Robinson’s house. While we were shopping, the sun had decided it was time to set. The sky was a dark blue, and getting darker by the minute. By the time we reached Canaveral Groves, the only light around was from the car’s headlights.

“Who wants to help me with dinner?” Robinson asked.

“I’ll help,” Bowser said.

“I’ll help too,” Peaches said.

When I didn’t say anything, Peaches looked over at me. “What?” I finally said.

“Are you gonna help, Jimmy?” she asked.

“I could, but I’m not much for cooking, unless you need something microwaved. I’ve never even used a grill before.”

Robinson laughed, turned his head back to us, and said, “You leave the grilling to me.”

And that was all it took, that little turn of his head, enough to take his eyes off the road for just one measly little second. Enough to kill the mood in the car, and possibly someone outside the car.

They flew up onto the hood, hit the front windshield, and then rolled off the side. Unlike what you might see in a movie, the front windshield did not crack.

“What in the fuck was that?” Robinson yelled. He slowly pulled the car to a stop.

“We hit somebody,” Bowser said.

We all looked out the back window to see if we could see anyone, but it was too dark.

“Somebody? You sure it wasn’t an animal?”

“It was definitely a person,” Bowser replied.

Robinson turned the car around and very slowly headed back down the street. He stopped when two people appeared in the headlights. One of them was lying on their side in the road, the other leaning over trying to help. Robinson put the car in park, and we all jumped out.

As we approached, two sounds shut out all others. The painful groaning of the man on the pavement, clutching at one of his legs, and the crying of the woman hovering over him.

Robinson kneeled down beside them. “Are you okay?”

The guy, maybe mid-thirties and Hispanic, was wearing blue jeans and a white tank top. There was a rip in his jeans around the kneecap. I could see blood beginning to soak into the fabric around the edges. The woman, also Hispanic, had jeans on as well, with a black lacy top, but not a drop of blood on her.

“You hit him. Why’d you hit him?” she sobbed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see him,” Robinson said. “What was he doing in the road?”

“We were heading back home,” she said. “We took a shortcut.”

“Fuck, my leg,” the man whined.

“Can you move it, honey?”

“I don’t know. I think it might be broken.”

“Did you hit your head?” Robinson asked.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Got some cuts on his shoulder,” Bowser said.

“I think I landed on my shoulder.” Both of his arms were heavily tattooed. “Doesn’t feel as bad as my leg though.”

“We need to get him out of the road,” Robinson said. “We can’t do anything for him out here.”

“Can’t take him to the hospital,” I finally interjected.

“Would you mind coming back to my house? It’s just down the street. I got some meds and first aid stuff that might be able to help.”

“Whatever you can do,” the woman replied.

“Bowser, help me pick him up,” Robinson said. “We’ll put him down in the backseat.”

I was hurt that Robinson didn’t ask me to help. Then I remembered that I weighed about one hundred and forty pounds soaking wet, and that Bowser could probably throw me across the street using only one arm.

Once they’d safely transferred the wounded man to the car, Robinson drove him and the three girls, Peaches, Olivia, and the crying Hispanic woman, down to his house at the end of the block. Bowser and I had to walk the rest of the way.

“Shit just got crazy,” Bowser said. “Robinson fucked that guy up.”

“I wouldn’t tell
him
that,” I said. “I bet he feels really bad about it. Especially since we can’t get the guy any real medical attention.”

“True.”

Without power to the streetlights, the road was so dark I could barely see Bowser walking beside me. He just blended in. I doubt it was the same for him. I probably looked like Casper the Friendly Ghost. Up ahead, the red of Robinson’s brakes lit up the dark momentarily, then disappeared. They had reached his house. Not much further for us to go.

“It’s been one terrible day,” I said. “I still can’t believe everything that’s happened.”

“Man, I thought I was gonna die in that cell,” Bowser said. “And I’ve been shot at, stabbed, you name it. But I was never worried about dying . . . was just part of living. But today all that changed. I got scared today.
Real
scared. And I ain’t never been so glad to be alive.”

I smiled. “Well, I’m glad we could share this moment together.”

“Shut the hell up.”

When we made it to Robinson’s house, Bowser once again helped carry the wounded guy. I took on the greater responsibility of bringing the stuff we’d stolen from Walmart into the house. After putting Olivia down in her new bassinet, Peaches went around lighting candles in most of the rooms. Robinson and Bowser set the wounded guy down on the couch. Then Robinson ran off to look for some medical supplies.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

He stuck out his hand. “Diego.”

“Nice to meet you. My name’s Jimmy.” I shook his hand. “And you are . . . ?”

“Luna,” said the grief-stricken woman sitting next to Diego.

“Nice to meet you too. Sorry about all this.”

Robinson returned a minute later with a small box full of random first aid supplies. Ointment. Bandages. Cotton. Adhesive tape. Rubbing alcohol. And then began carefully examining Diego’s knee. Jax came up beside him, nosing around like he wanted to help.

“I’m not a doctor, as you can probably tell by the uniform. But they do teach us a few things.”

“Gracias,” Diego said.

I left them and went to check on my grandma. Surprise, surprise, she was right where we had left her. I stared down at her in the guest bed and lightly touched her face. Still warm. Still breathing. I hated checking on her like this. I always assumed the worst, even though it was necessary. Heck, at her age, I wouldn’t blame her if she just gave in and gave up. She had lived a long life, given so much, loved so many. This was no way to go on living.

“Grandma, if you can hear me. I want you to know I’m okay,” I whispered. “You don’t have to worry about me. I made some friends. I’ll be fine. I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I never told you, but I always thought of you as my mom. And I hoped you thought of me as your son.”

No use trying to hold back the tears. I let them flow. I needed the closure, and so did she.

“You can go now. You’ve earned the right. You’ve earned your wings. Go and be with Grandpa. I’ll never forget you. I love you.”

After drying my eyes, I headed back out to the living room. Diego was still on the couch with Luna. He had his bad leg propped up on the coffee table. Peaches and Bowser were in the kitchen prepping dinner.

“Where’s Robinson?” I asked.

“Outside getting the grill started,” Bowser replied. He was rubbing some sort of glaze on the ribs they’d got from the store. Jax was beneath him, licking his chops and smelling the floor for fallen food.

Peaches was pulling apart corn stalks and then soaking them with butter, getting them ready for the grill. “Where’d you run off to?”

“Nowhere. I was just checking on my grandma.”

“How is she?”

“Same, I guess.”

Out on the back deck, Robinson was checking the settings on the propane tank with the help of a high-powered flashlight Peaches and I had snagged from the cart of a comatose customer. The five candles Peaches had set up on the patio table didn’t provide much light beyond a short radius.

“How’s it coming?”

“Fine,” Robinson said, turning one of the knobs on the tank. “Just getting this thing warmed up. Got my worker elves going at it in the kitchen. Did you see?”

“I don’t know if I’d describe what they were doing as
going at it
, but yeah, I saw. How is Diego doing?”

Robinson stood up and lifted the grill lid, felt for heat. “His knee got cut open pretty bad. Had to bandage it up. Hope it doesn’t get infected. He also has some significant bruising up and down his leg that’ll take some time to heal. I gave him some leftover prescription pain meds I got after having a tooth pulled last month. Don’t know how much those will help, but they were the strongest I could find in the house.”

“Is his leg broken?”

Robinson shrugged. “Don’t know. I don’t have X-ray eyes, sorry to say. I hope not. I feel horrible about it. They’re gonna eat dinner with us. I even told them they could stay the night if they wanted.”

“What did they say?”

“They said they’d think about it.”

A half hour later, we all sat at Robinson’s dining room table and ate dinner. Peaches wanted to eat outside on the deck, but Robinson overruled her, for Diego’s sake. It was bad enough Diego had to get two people to help him walk, best to limit his movement to the bare minimum. The food was nothing extravagant: barbeque ribs, corn on the cob, and some pre-made potato salad Bowser had purportedly picked up from the Walmart deli. Not four-star restaurant quality, but certainly better than the frozen dinners I was used to consuming. Or, God forbid, the outdated junk food Aamod always sold me. It felt like months since I’d had a meal so filling.

“Quit your begging,” Robinson said to Jax, who was going from person to person hoping for kind favors.

“How old is he?” Peaches asked.

“He’s four.”

“Twenty-eight in dog years,” I said.

“Got
you
beat then,” Peaches said. “He’s a police dog?”

Robinson laughed. “Only in spirit. I got him for that reason, tried to get him professionally trained, but he wasn’t having any of it. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not stupid. He just didn’t want to work that hard.”

Now everyone laughed.

“I don’t blame him,” Diego said.

“Yeah, who wants to work hard?” I said.

Jax must have known we were talking about him. He went up and nudged Robinson’s hand, indicating he wanted attention. Robinson gave in to the shepherd’s demands and began petting his head. “He’s just more of a love dog, I guess.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” Peaches said.

Then the conversation shifted to the newcomers at the party, Diego and Luna. They had met six months ago at the car dealership where they both worked. He was a mechanic. She was a sales consultant. They had recently got engaged, and were supposed to get married this past weekend. But the world had other plans. Last night, as they attempted to flee the city along with everyone else, they had become trapped on the highway in bumper-to-bumper traffic that eventually came to a complete and permanent stop. So they spent the night in their car and woke up to the stark realization that none of it was a dream. With the highway an ugly mess, they had to hike most of the way back to the city, and decided to cut through Canaveral Groves to hopefully save some time. Tired and weak from the journey, Diego had been in a bit of a daze when the headlights of Robinson’s squad car blinded him. Luna had just missed being hit herself. It was the first moving vehicle they’d seen all day, and it nearly ended their engagement.

“Have you thought about what I asked?” Robinson said. “About staying the night. I can’t promise it will be comfortable, but we’ll make room.”

Diego and Luna looked at each other and made a quick decision without even uttering a word.

Then they both nodded.

It took some time to come up with the sleeping arrangements. Robinson had a three-bedroom house, but only two of the rooms actually had beds, and one of them was a twin that grandma currently occupied. The other bed was Robinson’s queen bed, of course, which he insisted Diego and Luna take. I think it was his small way of continuing to show that he was sorry for the accident. Peaches and I gathered some extra linens and made nests on the floor in each of the other rooms. I would be in the guest room with my grandma. She would be in the last room, an office, with Olivia. The man of the house, Robinson, would sleep on his favorite recliner, while his old friend Bowser got the couch. Jax had a hard time picking one spot, and would likely change sleeping stations throughout the night.

We all hung out in the living room and chatted for an hour or so, and then one by one, said goodnight and took our tired asses to bed. Robinson’s cooking had worn everyone out.

I sat up and read for a while by candlelight, getting a quarter of the way through
Titanic with Zombies
before blowing out the candle and going to sleep. It had been the longest day I could remember. I had a feeling a lot of days going forward would be like this one.

A few hours later, I woke up sweating like a straight guy in a gay bar. Having no air conditioning was gonna drive me nuts, and it was only bound to get worse as we moved into April and closer to summer. I was used to sleeping with few clothes and lots of covers, and the temperature somewhere around seventy degrees. It had to be better than eighty in the house. We really needed to find a generator, and lots of gas to keep it powered. I vowed to make that my number one priority.

I tried to get back to sleep, counted over a hundred sheep, and then finally gave up. I threw on a shirt and left the room.

Out in the living room, Robinson was snoring so loud I was afraid he’d wake the neighbors, and they were most likely in a coma. I could vaguely remember my grandpa snoring like that when I was young. It sounded like a clogged-up vacuum cleaner. I couldn’t believe Bowser was able to stay asleep. He did have a pillow planted over his face—maybe he couldn’t take it and suffocated himself.

On my way to the kitchen to get a bottle of water, I noticed Peaches sitting on the back deck by herself, a single candle on the table flickering orange light.

I got an extra bottle of water and joined her outside. Jax rushed out behind me before I could close the sliding door.

“Hey,” I said softly. “What are you doing out here?”

“Nothing. Couldn’t sleep.”

I sat down beside her and opened one of the water bottles. I set the other one down on the table. “Me neither. It’s so hot in there.”

“Tell me about it. I considered moving my blankets out here.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” I said. “But it’s not just the heat, even though that’s a huge part of it. My ears are still ringing from earlier in the day. I can hear it when everything gets real quiet.”

“Really? You mean from when you shot that guy?”

“Jerry.”

“I think you did the right thing.”

I nodded. “He didn’t leave me much choice. But the effects are still imprinted on my mind, and apparently in my ears too.”

“Well, I don’t have that problem, but I am concerned about Olivia.”

“What do you mean?”

It took her a minute to answer. We both stared off into the darkness, listening to the sounds of the night.

“It’s just a lot of responsibility,” she finally said. “I don’t know if I’m up for it. I feel like, since I’m the only female in the group, there’s an expectation for me to step up and take care of her, when the last few years I’ve barely been able to take care of myself.”

“You’ve been doing a great job taking care of Olivia so far.”

“That’s just one day though. She’s gonna need more than that.”

“Yeah, but you’re not alone in this. I’ll help you. I’m sure the others will, as well. Robinson has a son. He had some experience raising a kid.”

“Not in a world like this. Everything is different now. How is she gonna get an education? I won’t be able to teach her much. I sure didn’t do well in school. And what if she gets hurt or sick? What are we supposed to do? It’s not like we can just take her to the hospital. She’s so fragile, and I just don’t want to see anything bad happen to her.”

“The world is not a terrible place, despite everything that’s happened. If anything, it’s probably less dangerous than before. I could help teach her stuff. And people have raised kids for thousands of years without electricity or modern medicine. It’ll be more difficult, sure, but it can be done. It’s just gonna take all of us some time to adjust. Maybe a lot of time. This is only day one. She’ll be fine, all of us will. You’ll see.”

“I wish I had your confidence, Jimmy. Where do you get it?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s a new thing for me. I think maybe I’ve always had it and just never realized. I bet it’s the same for you. For the first time in my life, the person I always wanted to be is coming out, and it feels good. It feels right. I used to spend most of my time living in fantasy worlds, idolizing fictional characters, wishing I could be a part of something special, something magical. It was therapeutic. It healed me. It helped me forget that I was an accident my birth mom didn’t want to take responsibility for, or the constant bullying in school, or that no girl wanted to go out with me, even the ugly ones.”

Peaches looked at me with a genuine sad face. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. Not anymore. I’m through feeling sorry for myself. I’m ready to just be me, and be proud of it.”

Peaches smiled and put her head on my shoulder. “Thank you for keeping me company. You have a strange way of cheering me up . . . but somehow it works.”

“Somebody had to do it.”

“Well, I’m glad it was you,” she said.

Then she did something that made my heart begin to beat like crazy in my chest. She looked up at me, gently placed her lips on mine, and then kissed me. And so I kissed her back.

Her lips felt so soft, so moist.

So perfect.

It was my first time kissing a girl, and although I’m sure my inexperience showed because I was intensely aware of how I was moving my mouth, she made me feel like I was doing it the right way.

She made me feel like it didn’t matter.

She led me, and I followed.

When she finally pulled away, and our lips separated, a giant smile rose on my face. I couldn’t hold it back. This was what I had been missing for so long, and it was worth the wait.

Fuck the rest of the world, I was having a good time.

Jax was laying down a few feet away staring at us with great interest.

“I think he’s jealous,” Peaches said.

“He can go kiss his dad.”

Peaches laughed and put her head back on my shoulder.

We continued to talk until eventually Peaches began to nod off, so I took her to her room. Then I went to my room, got as comfortable as I could in the nest of blankets on the floor, and replayed that kiss over and over again in my head. I was still smiling as I drifted off to sleep.

And into dreamland.

The next thing I knew I was walking across the top deck of a large ship. It was nighttime, the air outside cold as an iceberg. Dark water filled the horizon in every direction.

Someone was walking next to me, a male wearing some kind of blue officer’s jacket. I didn’t recognize him, but he had a look of deep concern on his face.

“Where are we going?” I asked him.

“As I said, sir. Down to the third-class hospital.” He had a British accent.

I wondered why all of this seemed so damn familiar. Had I been here before?

The officer led me down a few flights of stairs to a small examination room, where three other men were waiting for our arrival. I was just glad to be out of the cold. Two of the men stood on opposite sides of an examination table, the last was sitting on a bench on the far side of the room, struggling to keep his eyes open. He looked seriously ill. He had a large purple welt on one-half of his face.

“What’s the matter with him?” I asked.

An older gentleman who looked a bit like Colonel Sanders said, “He has a fever, captain. A very high fever.”