Ping - From the Apocalypse (11 page)

Kate peered down at
him. “You went swimming without me,” she said, dropping down on the towel beside him and propping herself up on her elbows. She gazed at her flat belly.

“You were snoring peacefully,” he mumbled, glancing
over at her.

“Well, you will never guess what just happened to me,” Kate
chirped.

He
peered over at her. “What?”

“I threw up.”

“Oh?”

“Yep.
And I know why too. I'm pretty certain it's official,” she said, placing his hand on her belly.

“You're pregnant?”

“According to that pregnancy kit you gave me, yeah,” she smiled.

He leaned back on his elbows.

“I think we did it,” she sang, squeezing his arm. “We're a family, and now we have Sarah too!”

His expression
didn’t change. Then he glanced down and crushed some grains of sand between his fingers, his lips drooping slightly, almost in a frown.

“
Jack? You’re scaring me again.”

He shook his head
as if to indicate that she was wrong. The sunlight had turned the stubble on his chin a copper colour. Cool drops of water fell on her arm from his dripping hair.

“Of course I'm happy,” he said
finally, looking up with those unreadable eyes and barely a smile. “We agreed this was what we needed to do.”

“I know but
… I just thought you would be delighted to know you were going to be a father. Isn't that a normal response?”

“Nothing is n
ormal anymore, Kate,” he said cynically.

Kate squeezed suntan lotion from a tube she had brought with her, and began to rub it on her shoulders. “Motherhood is the most natural thing there is, and so is being a father. And you are going to be a good one for our many children
… Jack?”

“What?”

“Why am I getting that sick feeling again? Like there is something you should be telling me. Here I am, pregnant with your baby, and it’s obvious you aren’t pleased. I feel like I don't even know you.”

“
And you are correct. You don't know me. But you didn't have much choice in the matter since I'm the only stud available.”

“Well if you would open up a little
… Tell me what goes on in that mind of yours. I'm doing my best to make you happy Jack. But you are so damned closed-off — it's like you don't want me to find out who you really are.”

Jack
glowered out at the ocean.

“Why are you being so cold at a time like this?” Kate was on the verge of tears.

He suddenly cocked his head and glared at her. “Why?” he said, followed by a long drawn-out sigh.

Kate waited
anxiously for an explanation; she was quickly filling with dread. He let the sand slowly escape from his fist like it was an hourglass. After a long silence he turned toward her.

“The truth is, the father of your future child just spent five years in
solitary confinement. The plague was my ticket out of that hellhole. You have no idea what kind of a man I really am.”

Kate was beginning to hyperventilate. “In prison? But why? What did you do?”

Jack hung his head, threw a fistful of sand in front of them. “Aw Christ… I wish I'd never agreed to this. It was a bad idea.”

“What do you mean? Tell me why you were incarcerated!”

“The rape and murder of a four-year-old boy named Reed, a patient of mine at the clinic. He was dying… untreatable lymphoma. So now you know my secrets Kate. Are you satisfied?”

Kate
began to sob.

He continued callously.
“I have to say I was shocked about Ping… Didn’t expect her to show up at all. Maybe you weren’t kidding about that boy you talk about either. No-one talked to me while I was sick in that prison. But after, when I broke out of there… I heard you. Just didn’t believe it was true until I saw you that day.”

“What?” Kate cried.

“I thought you were the only one. But I guess the two of you have a gift that I don’t. Maybe you'll find other survivors too then. They don't need someone like me around, now do they Kate?”

He shook his head back and forth staring down at his hands.
“Just get as far away from me as you can Kate, while it’s still possible. I'm serious.”

T
rembling all over, Kate stumbled to her feet. She looked down at him and began to shout. “What kind of a monster are you? How could you do such a thing?!!!”

She started toward the cottage. “I'm getting the hell out of here,” she said, turning back toward him
– then running as fast as she could.

Sarah had notice
d the sudden commotion and came up from the water. “Kate, what's wrong?” she called. “What happened?” she said to Jack as she rushed passed him.

Kate heard Jack yell, “She'll tell you the details, won’t you Kate… You wanted to know.
”

Chapter Twenty

Impulse Shopping

(July
16th, Year One, PA)

After a second bout of morning-sickness, a quick breakfast and a rush of packing their things into Kate’s Honda, Sarah put Snowy on the back seat and they both climbed in. Kate, who was in no mood to drive, was grateful to see Sarah slide behind the wheel. She was also relieved that Jack had the courtesy to keep out of her sight.

“All I know is we are heading west for Texas, Sarah,” she mumbled
, fastening her seatbelt and pulling out her map. Sarah began to drive down the relatively unblocked strip of road alongside the beach homes. “I’m glad you agree on his whereabouts. Together, maybe we’ve got a chance of finding him.”

Sarah glanced over
at her. “I found
you
didn’t I? He knows we’re on the way, contacted him last night since you were too upset to do anything but sob yourself to sleep. I’m so sorry sweetie,” she sighed and put her eyes back on the road.

“What is with that man anyway?
” she hissed.

Kate
could barely grasp what had just ensued. Things had been developing so perfectly and then, all at once, everything had changed. Why had she ignored her instincts about Jack? It was so obvious something wasn’t right with him. And she couldn’t have been more right about it.

“This is a disaster Sarah. I’m having that bastard’s baby. If you weren’
t here with me right now… I—I really think this would be the end of me,” she sobbed.

Sarah came to a stop at the intersection to
the main road. “Sweetie, I’m so sorry. But it isn’t your fault. It’s just typical Kate… messed-up people like that — they take advantage of people when they are most vulnerable! Man! If we weren’t in such a hurry to find the boy, I—I’d—”

“I
assume you’re taking the back roads Sarah; we don’t want to get stuck in traffic.”

As Sarah manoeuvred
the next corner Snowy’s cage skewed against the suitcase beside him. Sarah reached back, nudged it upright again, nearly swerving off into the ditch. “How you doing there Snow?”

Then
, straightening the wheel and stepping on the gas she glanced over at Kate with her brows deeply furrowed. “You’re not well enough to be having a child. And I… I've never delivered a baby before.”

Kate saw her bite her lip.
She was squeezing the wheel, evidently furious with herself. “How difficult can it be? There's nine months ahead of us, loads of time to do the research, right? You’re in good hands,” Sarah giggled nervously. “Trust me.”

Kate
wondered what living with that Lillie woman had
really
done to Sarah’s head. She sighed. Only time would tell. She was fighting to keep her breakfast down and Sarah’s unpredictable driving was making that nearly impossible.

Evidently,
Sarah had noticed that Kate wasn’t exactly relaxed about her driving. “Sorry. It’s just because I’m so angry. I’ve had a lot of practice in the last month so I know what I’m doing, really. I don’t actually have a license,” she admitted, laughing.

Kate wondered what Jack’s childhood had been like. He hadn’t mentioned it even once. With all of her prodding… if that wasn’t a huge clue that something was wrong.

“Lillie didn’t let me use the car. I was saving up for my own, but it wasn’t easy with my wages.”

She wished she
hadn’t eaten anything. How could a seven year old know what foods are healthy? How does he look after himself in such terrible conditions?

“Listen sweetie, once you calm down we’re going to have some telepathy sessions
together with him. It’s going to blow us away, okay?” Sarah smiled and patted Kate’s thigh.

Sarah chanced the highway. It turn
ed out to be fine since she got off well before city build-ups. Kate was in a daze, almost asleep, though she didn’t want to close her eyes, the wide spectrum of possible disasters drifting through her mind prevented her from that.

They
had both been practically silent for almost an hour when Sarah spoke causing Kate to blink back from her daydreaming.

“
There’s something I haven't told you yet.”

“What?”

“I've been getting vibes for a month or so. There’s definitely someone else out there, though she's struggling, poor thing. I think that with you and the boy, we might get through to her.”

She fondled a strand of Kate's hair.
“Feeling any better?”

“Hold
on,” Kate said soberly, “what’s that ahead?”

Sarah
stopped the car in the center lane and gazed out her side window. “Looks like a forest fire. Not surprised with this weather.”

Kate
glanced at the temperature gauge on the dash. ”Ninety-five degrees and climbing — we’re going to have to settle farther north than this I think.”

“Need some more water?” Sarah asked,
stepping out of the car. Kate got out and walked over to the trunk just as Sarah had grabbed two cold colas from the electric cooler. “Might as well enjoy them while we can,” she said.

They
leaned against the car. The cola was still bubbly and fresh tasting. Kate could smell the smoke blowing toward them.

“
He's at the upper part of Texas anyway. Let’s not waste time Sarah. I have a bad feeling about him. We should head north for a while.”

The further they drove away from Jack, the more a
nxious Kate felt about the boy, sensing that they were needed more desperately now, that his health was declining rapidly. She wanted nothing more than to be there for him. Sarah drove north until the billowing smoke near Tallahassee was out of sight, then veered west until the sun was glaring beneath their sun-visors.

Sarah
took the ramp off the interstate, pulled into a Costco parking lot and stopped outside the main entrance. She wanted to stay there for the night.

“
It’s going to be fucking hot in there Sarah.”

“
Na, they’ll have fans. We’ll hook them up and stay by the doors. We can’t sleep cramped up like this for three days.”

They both hopped out and Kate lifted Snowy’s
cage from the back seat. Sarah took him and put him in a nearby shopping cart. Then she pulled her gun from her purse, peering over at Kate. “It was Lillie’s. A single mom's got to protect her family. I'm getting a second cart for our stuff.”

She
wheeled Snowy’s cart closer to the entrance, skipped over to get another one and brought it back over to Kate.

“
Remember those game shows, where they had to cram as much stuff as they could into their carts before the time limit?”

Kate
gazed at her.

“
Come on now, cheer up. We might as well enjoy ourselves. Holy shit, what I’d give for one of those big chocolate cones,” Sarah blurted pushing a nervous Snowy into the cavernous building.

“Oops
, watch out Kate, a body!”

“Sarah, I think I'm gonna
…”

But it was too late. Kate was vomiting.

“Oh shit Kate, you’ve got to stop that. Come away from that thing! Let’s head for the back of the store sweetie, the air will be better there.”

“It
’s dark back there. And it stinks,” Kate said weakly. Her head was throbbing and she thought she was going to faint any minute.

“Don't worry.
They should have a garden centre back that way with the side doors open. Look! Flashlights and batteries, see? We'll make a cozy little nest right by the doors. It'll be fine. It's not too hot in here for you is it? Grape juice. Look at the expiry date Kate; no refrigeration needed and it's got 120% of your vitamin C in just one serving.”

They be
gan to fill the carts with everything they needed for a comfortable evening and then to add some spontaneous extras. Dragging a queen-sized mattress over to the garden center doors where a very mild breeze could be detected, they set up some jumbo flashlights around it and finally a couple of battery-powered fans.

Veiled in eerie shadows they sat on a lawn-swing with their dinner —
a smorgasbord of foods they’d picked off the shelves. Sarah had eaten enough for both of them when she suddenly stopped chewing. “It
is
a little creepy in here,” she admitted, her eyes somewhat distorted by the weird lighting from the flashlights.

The
y had been listening to random noises, some quite loud, others strangely unidentifiable that cracked or warbled from darkened corners of the huge warehouse.

“
It's just the changes in temperature and humidity,” Kate said. A second later an intense boom resounded from the direction of the bakery and they found themselves in each other’s arms.

“
What was that?” Sarah whispered still holding on to Kate. They waited, and then they both laughed.

“
Oh God… where are those potato chips?” Sarah giggled.

“
I'm going to lie down now Sarah. Are you coming with me?”

Sarah brought the chips and a bag of
cookies with her and dropped down on the mattress — which they had covered with a blanket — beside Kate; pillows, towels, plastic water bottles, tissues, cans of fruit, cutlery, and napkins were all laid out conveniently around the bed.

Kate sighed, relieved to be able to stretch out. It was admittedly quite comfortable there and she was grateful
her sister was with her.

“
I’m taking this blanket with us,” Sarah whispered. “It’s so soft.”

“We've only got one car. How much can we take?”
Kate said. The shopping cart was packed full.

“Yeah, I guess we'll downsize
in the morning. Such a shame.”

“You're so greedy,” Kate
laughed. “There are hundreds of stores like this all over the place. Stuff is going to be the least of our problems.”

“I know
. I haven't been doing any laundry. I just throw things out. We should always do it that way. What do you think Kate?”

“I think I'm exhausted.”

“Okay then.”

“Night.”

“Night-night.”

“Sarah?”

“What hon?”

“I was thinking
…”

“I noticed.”

“Seriously. I was just thinking about Jack.”

“What about
the asshole?”

“I feel sorry for him.”

“Well honey… you’ve obviously got feelings for him. That’s just because you fell for him before you knew what a monster he really is. But trust me, he isn’t worth your energy.”

“I guess.

“We don't have a need for secrets, do we Sarah? We trust each other enough to show our dark sides to each other. And then we are forgiving.”

“
Of course. But we don’t really have anything to hide. Not like him. What kind of an idiot would admit doing something so evil?” Sarah said.

“But
that’s what bothers me. Why did he even bother to tell me then? He didn’t have to. I just don’t get it. All of a sudden like that.”

“Because he's insane
!”

Sarah was probably right about that. But Kate needed more details to understand him thoroughly.
“What if I could reach Jack telepathically?” Kate added. “He said he had sensed me all the way from his prison cell. I don’t believe it though. He couldn’t possibly have, could he?”

Sarah shuddered. “
Trust me, you wouldn’t want inside a mind like that.”

Her poor
unborn child. What had she done? Kate sighed. “I should have known.”

“Come on honey. You need to forget about him.”

But Kate began to weep. “My baby won't have a father.”

“
We’ll find him a father. Don’t you worry about that, okay? Go to sleep now, you’re exhausted. And we have a long day of driving tomorrow,” Sarah insisted.

“Okay, goodnight. That poor
little boy.”