Shadows Have Gone (4 page)

Sam was on the back porch, where he’d been relegated to stay while Carly was away. Mrs. Davis was a little afraid of the wolf but respected his job of watching over the baby in her care. So she had fixed up a soft bed on the screened-in porch for him, along with a bowl of food and water, and latched the screen door open so he could come and go at will.

As Carly approached, Sam stood and glared at her. She reached the steps, and he turned his head to look away.

“Sam, aren’t you happy to see me at all?” Carly asked.

Sam looked back toward her and made a huffing noise, then shook his fur.

Carly crouched down. “Come on, don’t be like that.”

Sam relented, having apparently decided he’d punished her enough. He bounded over to her and nearly knocked her over as he licked under her chin, then snuggled his head into her neck. His high-pitched whines and yips nearly pierced her eardrums, and his tail whacked her legs as he dropped back down to all four paws, butting his head against her in a demand to be petted. Sometimes Sam’s behavior was very dog-like, but she always had to remember he was a hundred-and-fifty-pound adult male wolf.

“I love you, too,” she said.

Sam sniffed at her clothing intently, and Carly wondered what information he was gleaning. He pulled back and seemed to glare at her again, as though to say,
Don’t ever do that to me again.

Carly put her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“That excuse has never worked for me,” Justin said. He came strolling around the side of the house.

“That’s because I have opposable thumbs and you can’t trap me inside by shutting a door behind you when you go.” Carly stood.

Veronica came barreling around the corner of the house behind Justin and crashed into him from behind. “Sorry,” she mumbled and then darted around him and hurried to Carly, her arms full of baby bulldog. Her eyes shone with eagerness.

“Carly! I thought you’d want to know that Buttercup did well last night,” she said. She held up the puppy, which looked like a fuzzy water balloon with legs. “She’s sleeping in a box beside my bed, and I’m waking up every two hours to feed her.”

Veronica seemed very pleased by that, and Carly thought of her own hollow-eyed reflection in the mirror when Dagny had been an infant and wished she’d had that much enthusiasm for the interruptions to her sleep. “We’ve been keeping the bowl of milk in the cellar where it’s cool and just warming up little bits to feed her. She doesn’t eat much at one time. But Justin will need to get us more, because it will probably go bad soon.”

“I will,” Justin said and ruffled Veronica’s hair. She smoothed it down and gave him a pretended glare for messing it up. “As soon as we come back, okay? Shadowfax has some work to do first.”

“Can I help?” Veronica’s eyes gleamed with excitement, and Carly could understand her curiosity. That was the apocalypse in a nutshell, Carly thought. Having to milk a mare to feed a motherless puppy. It was a mad, mad world.

“Thank you for taking such good care of Buttercup,” Carly said. They headed toward their own house, and Carly’s heart lifted when she saw it.
Home
.

Veronica followed, talking a mile a minute, relating far too many details about how to keep a puppy’s digestive system working. Carly was by turns amused, grossed-out, and dazed by the nonstop stream of chatter.

Marcus had given them one good thing, she thought. His “gift” when he’d approached Colby with an insincere offer to merge their groups had been a female bulldog in labor. He’d known Carly wouldn’t be able to resist the poor thing. Marcus had been indifferent to the suffering of the mother dog. How long had she been in labor? He hadn’t even said. They weren’t even sure how he had acquired her, but it was likely it had been from one of the travelers his group had lured into Clayton to rob and kill.

Though the bulldog had died in labor, they had the one puppy that had survived, a female, and Veronica had predicted with delight that Sam would mate with her when Buttercup grew up and give them more puppies. Carly almost laughed at the thought, because even though Buttercup was just about the cutest thing Carly had ever seen, the combination of bulldog and wolf would result in the ugliest puppies in all of canine-kind. Still, they’d be very welcome, another sign that nature was getting back to normal after the Infection.

Kaden followed them home and opened the windows of the house to let the stuffy air out.

“Do you guys want an early supper?” Kaden asked. “I could start up the grill.”

“No, I’m fine,” Carly said. Food was the last thing she wanted. “We won’t be here long, Kaden. I just want to shower and change before we head back.”

“Okay. I’m gonna go check on the animals. Pete was taking care of them, but you know how that is.”

“Okay. Thanks.” Carly went into the bathroom, flicking on the battery powered lamp. She winced when she saw her bruised cheek in the mirror. The inside of her mouth felt raw where her teeth had sliced into the tender lining of her cheek when Marcus punched her. She wished he had some ice or Orajel, but those things didn’t exist in their world any more.

Hands slipped around her waist. “Oh, Justin, you scared—”

He whipped her around and shoved her against the wall, though his arms around her shoulder and waist kept her from banging into it. He released her, and the buttons of her shirt pinged against the tile as he yanked it open, followed by the straps of her bulletproof vest. It hit the ground with a soft thump. Carly gave a soft moan as his lips raced the length of her neck down to the soft vee between the cups of her bra. He seized the fabric and tore it with one pull. The burn of the ripping material along her back made her gasp, but she was too busy fumbling with the button on his jeans to pay it much attention.

He yanked down her khakis as he picked her up and swung her around to brace her against the edge of the vanity. His lips, so rough on her throat, were careful and tender on her face, barely brushing her bruised mouth with a feathery touch. She wrapped a leg around his waist as they came together. Her shoulders slammed into the medicine cabinet.

“Sorry,” he whispered, slipping his arm behind her back.

She didn’t reply, digging her fingers into the hard muscle of his arms as they began to move in rough tandem, their breath mingling as they panted. She bit his shoulder when her body shook with pulses of so intense she thought she would scream from it.

They showered in lukewarm water, warmed by the sun in their rooftop tank, and dressed in their bedroom. Carly threw away the shredded clothes. Justin fished in the medicine cabinet and held up a few foil packets.
 

“We’re almost out of condoms,” he said.

Carly nodded. “I knew we were running low. Miz Marson gave me something to try. Queen Anne’s Lace seed. It’s better than nothing, I suppose. I’ll start it now before we run out, in case it takes a while to be effective.”

Carly couldn’t take the Pill because it made her intensely nauseated, and they didn’t have many other options available. It had been two years since the world ended, and the shelf life of many pharmaceuticals had been shortened by the lack of climate-controlled storage. For a long while, it had seemed that Carly was the only woman who needed birth control, but Mindy’s pregnancy suggested that people’s bodies were starting to recover from whatever the Infection had done to them. The temporary infertility could be wearing off, and more people would have to make the decision whether they wanted to become parents.

Justin looked skeptical. “This isn’t one of her old wives’ tales, is it, like that magnet bracelet she wears for her arthritis?”

“Laura has heard of it and says women used it for thousands of years before modern birth control. Now that I’m not nursing Dagny, I might as well give it a try.”

They headed upstairs. Kaden was seated on the sofa with a book in hand. “You guys okay? I heard a bang and wondered if someone fell.”

Carly’s cheeks flushed, but Justin just shrugged. “I didn’t hear anything.”

“You sure no one stubbed a toe or anything?” Kaden gave Justin a sly glance. “I thought I heard a moan.”

Carly’s face felt like it was melting, but she was glad Kaden felt comfortable enough to tease them. It was a good sign.

Justin gave him a playful swat on the back of the head. “Stop.”

Kaden just grinned at him and went back to his book.

It seemed strange to be joking around so shortly after the battle and losing one of their friends, but they’d learned this compartmentalization. They’d had to. In truth, they should still be mourning the death of the entire world around them, but they’d had to put that aside for the business of daily living. There was no longer any formality to grief, no statute of limitations before smiles and laughter could be permissible.

“Nosy little shit,” Justin muttered but rubbed his chin to hide a grin.

Carly hurried off to busy herself in the kitchen, but truthfully, she was looking forward to Kaden acting like a bratty teenager. He’d been so nervous and careful around them when he first came to live with them. None of the kids in the town were fully back to being ordinary children yet. Once that happened, Carly would feel like their little community had real life and stability.

Carly finished hooking Shadowfax to the wagon as Justin loaded shovels into the back. She tried not to think of what they were for. He had gathered up some work gloves and other things they might need. Carly clicked to Shadowfax, and they pulled the wagon out of the barn.

She saw Kaden running toward them, his bag banging against his knees. “What’s he doing?”

“Coming along,” Justin replied.

“You think that’s a good idea?” Carly turned worried eyes to him.

“I think he should, Carly. He wants to be allowed to fight with us . . . let him see the cost of it.”

Carly let out a slow breath, then nodded. She took hold of Shadowfax’s bridle as Kaden caught up to them and slung his bag into the wagon. His slingshot protruded from his back pocket. It was as powerful as a small caliber handgun, and Kaden was a good shot with it. Someone might laugh to see a boy with a slingshot, but they wouldn’t be laughing if he needed to use it.

Sam trotted beside them, his posture alert as he sensed the tension from Carly. She tried to relax for his sake, and soon his tongue was lolling out of his mouth. She thought of those thousand miles they had traveled from Alaska to Colby, Sam by their side. Despite the uncertainty of those days, when the approaching winter meant the danger of being trapped by a blizzard, she reminisced about their simplicity. Before the weight of responsibility had settled on her shoulders. Sometimes she yearned for a greater authority figure to take the burden, to make the hard decisions, to relieve her of the constant fear she was leading her community in the wrong direction.

It was late afternoon before they arrived back in Clayton. The ruins of the courthouse still smoldered as they approached, its smoke a sullen stain against the brilliant blue of the sky.

Kross’s body still lay wrapped in the tarp in the half-burned barn they had used as their base. Kaden looked back at Justin as though for permission. Justin nodded. Carly took hold of his arm, and he laid a hand on the small of her back. A comfort, a restraint. She had to let him do this.

Kaden pulled aside the edges of the tarp and stared down at his friend.