Wanderers (9 page)

“But what about my—”

Without looking, Lewt cut her off. “We'll see you later, pretty.”

As Eli led Asha away, Lewt grasped Rafe's limp paw and shook it.

“Nice to know you,” said Rafe. He was hungry for dinner and already losing interest in the newcomers. “Just passing through?”

“In a way.”

“Well,” Rafe said as he turned to go. “Good luck to you.”

Lew stopped him. “In fact, we wouldn't mind some food and water to get us on our way. If it ain't no trouble.”

Rafe stopped and thought about it. In fact, there was precious little of either food or water and there was none to spare. Still, he liked the respectful way the stranger addressed him; it made him feel magnanimous. “I guess we could donate something.”

Lewt smiled. “That's mighty kind,” he said. “In fact, while you're being so generous, you think we might tag along for a bit? That fella thought it'd be okay.”

Rafe was puzzled. “Eli said that? That's strange. He—”

“Everything all right?”

It was Caleb who spoke now. He had been watching with Esther from a distance and had already taken stock of the strangers. The big one and the giggling boy who refused to meet your eye seemed harmless enough. But the one in front was now staring at him with an air of confrontation. Then the boy glanced at Esther, his eyes sweeping up and down her body. He seemed to take special note of the tattered partnering cloth around her wrist. Or was it a trick of the light? Caleb couldn't be sure.

When the newcomer turned to Caleb, he seemed polite enough. “I'm Lewt. And this here's my boys.”

As the two shook hands, Rafe was inwardly seething. He didn't like the way Caleb inserted himself into the conversation. It made Rafe look weak, as if he weren't the real leader. Didn't Caleb think Rafe could handle a perfectly ordinary situation by himself? Rafe hitched up his jeans in a display of decisiveness.

“Sorry, but you can't join us,” he told Lewt in a brusque voice. “And I'm afraid we can't give you any of our supplies. I wish you luck on your travels.”

Caleb nodded; then he and Esther started back to the camp. Rafe was about to follow, when Lewt caught up with him.

“Wait,” he said to Rafe in a low voice. “We might be of use to you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Rafe said. All he wanted now was supper. “How's that?”

“Well, Quell here's real strong. Boy like that comes in handy when something needs lifting. And Tahlik knows how to fix tires pretty good in case any of your vehicles need mending.”

Rafe gave him a pinched smile. “Thanks, but we already got folks who can do that.” Before he could leave, Lewt spoke one last time.

“Then how about you go with
us
?” he said. “Seems there should be room for us all, if it's what they say it is.”

“Yeah?” Rafe said. “And where's that?”

“Mundreel.”

Rafe stopped and stared at the other boy. He glanced at Caleb, who had already disappeared into the darkness. Then he swiveled away, excited, confused, and self-conscious. He shifted his torch to his other hand and wiped the copious sweat that had somehow sprung up on his face.

Lewt drew closer. “You heard of it, I can tell.”

“Matter of fact, it's where
we're
headed,” Rafe said. He felt faint.

The other boy smiled his peculiarly wolflike grin. “Well, looks like we come along at the right time then. Right, boys?” This last was addressed to Quell and Tahlik, who giggled once more. “We know how to get there. We just need some help with provisions and backup, case there's trouble. We could travel together. After all, there's strength in numbers. Ain't that what they say?”

Rafe avoided Lewt's piercing gaze and looked down at the dirt.

He alone knew that his own directions were worse than shaky. And no matter how hard he studied them, Rafe couldn't make any sense whatsoever out of Joseph's maps. As a result, he had only the vaguest sense of where they were headed.

“Okay,” he said, impulsively.

“Great.” Lewt slapped his companions on the back. “You won't regret it. We'll just go get our stuff.” Smiling, the three boys turned and disappeared into the night.

Alone, Rafe breathed a sigh of relief. Then Caleb stepped once more from the darkness.

“What'd you do that for?” His voice was stony. “We don't know them. And we got enough people to care for.”

“You got that girl to come,” Rafe retorted. “The useless one, with the messed-up face. At least the mutant can hunt.” He turned to go, but Caleb grabbed his arm.

“That's not an answer.”

“Then I'm in charge,” Rafe said, freeing himself. “
That's
the answer.”

Rafe walked away. He knew Caleb was staring after him with anger, but, as he reminded himself, it was loser's anger. Rafe had won this little fight of theirs and there was nothing, really, Caleb could do to change it.

Rafe could hear the strangers laughing in the distance.

That night, the three newcomers stayed by themselves on the outskirts of the bonfire. They spoke to no one as they ate their meager rations. Later, as the townspeople scattered through the town's desolate buildings for a secure place to sleep, they instead chose to stay in the open, under the cloudless night sky.

When Rafe awoke in the morning, he discovered that the book of maps he had taken from Joseph had disappeared from his wagon. But at breakfast, he saw Lewt poring over it, nodding his head as if it made sense to him and clapping it shut when Rafe approached.

“Yeah,” Lewt said, “it's what I thought. It's the same as our directions.” He then suggested the caravan continue on the side road in order to avoid the oil spill. After several wrong turns and many hours, the caravan finally returned to the desolate interstate.

The three strangers rode their own bicycles, which were dusty, rickety, and defaced by obscene carvings. Each carried an overstuffed backpack or shoulder bag. Lewt's was a battered black duffel half as tall as he was, with the words
OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS
on the side. Like the others, he kept it with him at all times.

Most of the time, Tahlik and Quell rode up front, next to Rafe. They said little to nothing, pedaling in silence. Lewt, on the other hand, was more sociable and kept dropping back to chat with the girls in the caravan.

Many of them were receptive to his playful tone and rough good looks. He often bicycled next to Rhea, bending close to say things that made her giggle. Asha would ride near him, too, trying to draw his attention. Later that afternoon, when the townspeople encountered a break in the road and had to carry everything over by hand, he went out of his way to help the girls, talking to them the whole time. The only females he ignored were Skar and Michal, barely glancing at either of them. As for Esther, she did her best to avoid him.

Throughout, Caleb kept watch over Lewt. Once or twice, he attempted to make eye contact, which Lewt avoided. In fact, he noticed that the boy had nothing to do with any of the males, even after the caravan stopped for the night.

Since there had been no exits for miles, Rafe ordered everyone to pull their wagons under the shelter of an overpass and set up camp on the concrete shoulders that tilted upward at a steep angle. Yet after dinner, Lewt and his companions once again moved off by themselves, setting up their own camp near an abandoned truck farther down the road.

Esther had set up their sleeping bags against one of the massive pillars that held up the overpass. It wasn't much, but it afforded her family at least a modicum of privacy.

Around her were the rest of the townspeople, buried in piles of quilts and blankets. Only an occasional snore or muffled exclamation broke the silence. To her right, Kai had finally fallen asleep. But she could tell that Caleb lay next to her, wide awake.

Esther couldn't sleep, either: She flopped over for the hundredth time, her hip bones pressing against the hard road. Then she shifted to be nearer to Caleb. She strained to see his features in the dark, then ran one finger, light as a feather, along his profile. When she pressed forward to kiss his neck, he turned to her.

“Maybe this will help us sleep,” he whispered with a smile.

Esther moved into his arms. It was risky, she knew, with so many people close by. Yet it had been so long, neither could control themselves any longer. It became a challenge, yet an oddly exciting one, not to be detected by the others.

When it was over, they lay drenched in sweat, their fingers intertwined.

“I love you,” Esther whispered.

“I love you, too.” But Esther could tell he was thinking of something else.

“What is it?” But she knew: It was the strangers. She didn't trust them, either.

After a moment, Caleb sat up and pulled on his jeans. “I'll be right back.”

Walking with care, Caleb picked his way down the steep ramp filled with sleeping bodies and then along the highway. The three strangers were huddled close together around a small campfire, too engrossed in whatever they were doing to look up. But when Caleb stepped on a shard of broken plastic, Lewt grabbed a lit branch and swung it upward to cast light down the road.

When he saw it was Caleb, he hesitated, then smiled.

“What can we do for you?” His voice sounded too casual. “Abel, was that the name?” There was something around Lewt's mouth, which he wiped off on his sleeve. Behind him, Caleb noticed the other boys trying to cover something on the ground.

“Caleb.”

“Right . . . you're the one with Esther. What can we do for you?”

“I want to know what you're up to.”

“We're sleeping. What's it look like?”

Tahlik snickered and even Quell gave a bearlike rumble, which seemed to indicate amusement. Caleb kept his voice steady.

“Where'd you get it?” Caleb asked.

“Get what?”

“What you're eating. You can't smell it from down the road, but I can now.”

Lewt stared at Caleb, the bonfire throwing flickering shadows across his face. Then he shrugged and dropped the branch back into the fire. The flames blazed up, revealing platters of cooked beans and flatbread.

“So you caught us,” Lewt said. “Congratulations.”

“When did you steal it? Just now, when everybody was asleep?”

Lewt chuckled, then shook his head, still smiling. “Now that hurts my feelings,” he drawled. “We didn't steal this. Did we, boys?” The other two murmured a negative. “It may surprise you to hear it, but some folks are happy to share. Like the pretty gal whose mind ain't right? We saved her life, so she wanted to give us extra. And Rhea—turns out her partner died in an earthquake, poor thing, so she's a little lonely. Other gals felt the same way.” He licked his lips, which glistened with saliva. “Why, you might even say, they feel like they
owed
us.”

Caleb's heart had begun to pound. His old impulse was returning, that dangerous, violent part of himself he had sworn off for good; it was starting to fill his veins and pulse through his body like cold fire. His fingers twitched at his side, reaching for the weapon he no longer carried.

With a shudder, Caleb closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Slowly, he forced his hand to relax.

“This is the last night,” he said.

“Why? You going somewhere?” Lewt's tone was insolent and the others laughed.

Caleb met his eyes. “The last night it happens.”

Lewt smiled, yet seemed unnerved. He spread his hands, indicating the array of food, and this time, he sounded sincere.

“I got a better idea. Why don't you just help yourself?” he said in a soft voice. “Not just tonight. Any time we get some, you get some, too. Who would ever know?”

Caleb said nothing, and under his unblinking gaze, Lewt's smile faltered and then died. “All right,” he muttered as he glanced away. “You made your point.”

Esther was waiting by the time Caleb returned. “Everything okay?” she whispered.

He nodded and kissed her on the forehead as he slipped beneath their shared blanket.

“Try to sleep,” he said.

In the darkness, Esther curled close to him, draping one arm across his chest as if in protection. Within moments, the soft and even sound of her breathing filled the air.

But Caleb was unable to sleep, for every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Lewt's leering face. Instead, he stared up at the night sky and counted stars until, one by one, they were scrubbed out by the light of a new day.

The next morning was even hotter than usual. Esther could feel the heat of the road beneath her sneakers, and far away, waves of air danced on the horizon like a field of tall grass.

She trudged behind her wagon and paused to run her fingers through her spiky hair, trying to catch a breeze. She and Skar were taking turns on the bicycle that pulled the wagon; one would walk behind, pushing it when needed.

Directly in front of them was Rafe's opulent wagon. It was going unusually slowly; the load was clearly too much for the boy pedaling its bicycle, who struggled to keep it moving. As she and Skar drew alongside, Esther wondered why no one was helping push it from behind. She glanced inside and was startled to see Lewt.

He was leaning back, propped up on his elbows, the book of maps in front of him. When they passed, it seemed Joseph noticed him, too. He opened the tarp and leaned out to speak to him.

“Excuse me,” he called. “Are you sure we're heading the right way?”

Lewt, who had been dozing off, cocked an eye open. “Sorry?”

“It seems we're heading west.” Joseph's voice quavered; it cost him to talk to the stranger like this. “But if I could just look at my maps, I'm sure I could—”

“Hush,” Esther said.

“No, let him talk.” Lewt spoke deliberately. “I just wanted to see if your maps match with our directions. And they do.”