When the Dead (28 page)

The
group was falling apart and Markus had been ready to leave them for at least a
week. Now it had become a solo journey. He cared for Jeff, a lot, but he
couldn’t love a killer or live with people who would cover for one. Markus
packed a few of his things into a backpack, grabbed some food and climbed down
the fire escape of 201. At the bottom he saw the rotting body of Jeff’s dog
behind a bush, tufts of its curly coat moving gently in an almost
indistinguishable breeze, reinforcing his decision to walk away from it all. He
saw Jeff’s baseball bat and took it with him.

            His
friends, spread throughout the city, would welcome him with open arms if they
were still alive. Willow Brook was a sinking ship with few decent people left
on it to die with.

Ben walked Jeff back to his apartment. Jeff said nothing as
he closed the door and realized his worst fear had quickly become a reality.
Markus, his address book, the city map they’d been working on were all gone.
Jeff sat on the floor next to the coffee table. He touched his hands to the
cool wood and closed his eyes.
If it stays quiet and I concentrate,
he
thought,
I can remember some of the places he might be going.

            “But what would I do if I found him?” he asked
himself out loud.

I’ll kill him for leaving me.
His mind said.

“No! I love him!” he yelled and
opened his eyes. Jeff formed two fists with his hands and punched the table.
Left. Right. Left. Until his knuckles bled and the rage left his body.

When Molly was moving into Willow Brook, the office lady
went on and on about how
nice
the residents were.
They’ll do just
about anything for each other,
she had said. Molly had believed that and it
was one of the reasons why she decided to stay after her lease was up about a
year before the infection came. Now she was sitting in her cold apartment
remembering all that those residents had done for her.

            Jill had killed herself and her baby after
Molly’s kindness and care. Hayden had gone back to the man who’d punched Molly
in the face and who’d molested her in the third floor hallway. Rob, the only
man she’d let into her bedroom, had kept a secret for a killer, as had the
others. But
she
, with her eating disorder, was such a threat and needed
to be punished. She didn’t know if Markus had left but she assumed it was
likely. She felt like high-tailing it out of Willow Brook too only she had no
one to run to.

            The only thing she could come up with that
they’d actually done for her was keep her from focusing on her eating disorder.
Besides all the dying and deception, life actually felt more normal for her
than it had in a very long time. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d
binged and purged but, as she sat alone, she could feel the familiar need
growing inside of her. Stealing from the others was out of the question. She
would have to resort to more wild and dangerous efforts to get the food she so
desperately needed.

“He’ll
have to pay for what he’s done,” Isobel said to Ben and Rob. “It’s only fair.
Molly had to.”

            “An
eye for an eye? Molly had to get food for stealing food. Does that mean we have
to kill Jeff?” Ben asked with worry in his voice.

            “We
aren’t killing anyone. There’s been enough of that,” Rob said.

            “It
seems a bit too late to try to create a justice system here. We should have
done that when we made the rationing one,” Ben said. “Or when we found out he
killed someone.”

            “We
can’t let this fall apart. We have to do something,” Isobel said as she looked
out the window at another day passing by. “I’m going to talk to Molly.”

Rob left Ben and Isobel’s after she did. Ben left shortly
after and headed upstairs to the Cooper’s apartment to tell Hayden of all that
had transpired that day.

            “. . . and then Jeff came in to attack Isobel,
thinking she told everyone,” Ben recounted the event to Hayden.

            “Wow. It’s like a soap opera. I knew that Jeff
guy was a creep. He always gives me nasty looks.”

            “Why didn’t you say something to me?” Ben asked
with concern in his voice.

            “I didn’t want to bother you with it. I just
think he doesn’t like teenagers.”

            “Yeah, you’re too loud,” Ben laughed and Hayden
hit him playfully.

            “Can we talk about baby names?” Hayden asked
with hope in her eyes.

            Ben wasn’t in the mood for baby talk. He wanted
to touch Hayden intimately again. He’d tried to tell himself it wasn’t right
but her youth and beauty were intoxicating to him.

“In a second,” he said as he kissed
her and lowered her gently onto the bed.

Molly
didn’t get up to answer the knock at her door, not even when it grew loud and
irritated. Only when she knew it wouldn’t stop did she make the decision to see
who it was.

            “Look,
I know you’re a little pissed off,” Isobel said.

            “A
little pissed off?” Molly laughed sarcastically, allowing Isobel into the entry
of her apartment but no further.

            “What
would you have done?” Isobel queried.

            “First,
I would have tried to call the police,” Molly said matter-of-factly.

            “They
wouldn’t have come,” Isobel shook her head. “Can I come in?”

            “No.
Second, I would have gathered everyone and informed them of his wrongdoing.”

            “We
didn’t really know each other yet,” Isobel reasoned.

            “You
gathered everyone together anyway. You just forgot to leave out the bit about
Jeff being a murderer. You also helped to sell his lie.”

            “We
could have handled it differently,” Isobel agreed.

            “Third,
I would have kicked him out.”

            “You
want us to ask him to leave Willow Brook?” Isobel asked, dumbfounded. “Where
would he go?”

            Molly
shrugged. “I don’t see another option.” She pushed Isobel out of her apartment
and closed the door on her.

Jeff
grew sick of his empty apartment and he knew that the others were going to try
to appease Molly with some form of punishment for him. He needed someone on his
side, someone who would understand his position, someone who seemed to hate
women as much as he now did. The hallway of the second floor was quiet but he’d
seen Ben through the peephole, walking by, so he waited for a few minutes to be
sure that no one saw him go to the third floor.

            He
paced back and forth in front of Vaughn’s door a couple of times digging deep
within himself to face the monster of a man and ask for help. He was also
trying to determine if Hayden was with Vaughn. He didn’t really want to deal
with the immature teen. He heard her voice but it was coming from the apartment
behind him, the one the Coopers used to live in. He leaned against the cool
wood of the door and listened for a moment.

            “Oh,
Ben!” Hayden yelled from inside.

            Jeff
was shocked and confused. Ben didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d fuck a
teen and he was certain that Ben had a thing for Isobel. He stood there a
minute longer until he heard Ben’s voice and he knew it to be true.

            “Oh
man, this is too good.” Jeff smiled to himself. He’d hold onto this newly found
knowledge until it suited him to play the card. Now satisfied that Vaughn was
alone he turned back around, reached out and knocked once, firmly, to hide his
fear.

            Vaughn
opened the door, a bottle of beer in his hand, shirtless and smiling. He must
have been feeling good because his smile didn’t disappear when he saw that it
was Jeff.

            “What
a surprise! How’s the wife? I mean . . . the boyfriend? I mean . . .” Vaughn
laughed maniacally. The look of pain on Jeff’s face was priceless. Jeff turned
to walk away but Vaughn grabbed his shoulder roughly and pulled him into his
apartment before he could even protest.

            “It’s
like you have an informant. You know everything that goes on in this place,”
Jeff said as he rubbed his shoulder where Vaughn had grabbed him.

            “No
one informs me of anything. I’ve seen your wife a few times, outside, thought
about taking care of your little problem. Can’t really tell you why I decided
not to.”

           
You
know exactly why you didn’t, Vaughn!
His mind yelled but he had to stay
calm. Vaughn was the only person who could help him. “How did you know about
Markus?”

            “I
saw him leave. He looked really sad. That’s not a good look for a man.
Hopefully the world out there will toughen his gay ass up a bit.” Vaughn
punched Jeff in the shoulder in a manner that was meant to be gentle but it
wasn’t. “I’m sure there’s got to be a thing or two that I am not aware of. Like
why
you’re
here.” Vaughn pointed at him and waited for his explanation.

            “I
need your help. The group is after me. They want revenge or something. I know
they are planning against me. You didn’t get sucked into all their crap so can
you just give me some advice?” Jeff pleaded.

            Vaughn
thought Jeff sounded a little nuts but he wasn’t scared of him. He knew Jeff
wouldn’t try to hurt him since he wasn’t a part of the gang downstairs. “Get a
gun and assert yourself. The apartment is yours, right? They can’t take it from
you,” he suggested.

            “They
have an extra key. They can come in whenever they want. I think they are going
to kill me in my sleep.”

            “Get
the key then. Simple,” Vaughn said.

            “Can
I have one of your guns?”

            Even
though Vaughn didn’t think Jeff capable of killing him he didn’t want to risk
it. He could take the man in a fist fight but he couldn’t outrun a bullet. “No.
You’ll have to take one of theirs by force. It will be a louder statement if
you do it that way.”

            “Really?
That’s all you’ve got? I thought you were some wise man, sitting up here in the
clouds.”

            “Nope,
I’m just the angry drunk on the third floor,” Vaughn said, taking a swig from
his beer.

            “They’re
going to have a meeting, I know it. They love meetings. Maybe I can get a gun
then, when they are all busy talking about me.”

            “Whatever
you say. The details are yours to figure out. Now, I’ve got some business to
attend to if you don’t mind moving along.”

            “Yeah,
ok,” Jeff said weakly and left.

Rob prepared
his son for bed. He wasn’t sure what the next day would bring for them. The
fissures in the group had grown to be crevasses, too deep and wide to cross or
bring together again. It wouldn’t be all that much different from before the
plague, when neighbors didn’t talk to one another. Maybe everyone would be
alright if they just stayed out of one another’s way.

            Gabe
rolled over under his covers as his dad was leaving his bedroom. “Can you stay
here until I fall asleep?” he asked in a small voice.

            “There’s
nothing to be afraid of,” Rob said from the doorway.

            “There’re
monsters everywhere,” Gabe whined.

            “The
walls will protect us,” Rob said as he made his way back to his child in the
darkened room.

            “Can
the monsters turn doorknobs?”

            “No.
Now try to sleep.” Rob tucked Gabe’s blankets in tighter and lay next to him on
the bed, waiting for his breathing to slow and sleep to take him. He felt a
small bit of happiness that he might be getting his fragile and sensitive boy
back.

The next morning it was pouring down rain. Isobel woke early
due to the noise and was never able to fall back to sleep. Ben wasn’t home when
she’d been pushed from Molly’s apartment the day before and he still wasn’t
back.

The sheet of water falling on the
world outside made her feel more trapped than usual. She took in a deep breath,
let it out and got herself ready for what promised to be another long day. She
ate breakfast alone; stale crackers with canned tuna fish and a fruit cup.

            She
knew Ben was with Hayden again, she just didn’t know where. She wanted to talk
to Vaughn as well but thought it best to seek out the secret couple before him.
Isobel went to the third floor with the ring of keys in her hand and started
opening apartments, only to find them all empty until the Coopers’.

            She
turned the key in the doorknob and opened the door. “
Ben!
” She
whispered. “
I know you’re here.
” She started into the apartment but Ben
quickly appeared and disallowed her from further intrusion.

            “Hey,
um, I was just checking up on he-” he started but was cut off by Isobel.

            “I
know you’re screwing so drop the act, ok?” she said. “We need to gather up
everyone and figure out what to do about Jeff. Molly won’t let this go. Get
some pants on!”

            Ben
and Hayden dressed and went with Isobel to Vaughn’s door. Isobel knocked instead
of using the key.

            “I
don’t wake up this early,” Vaughn yawned in the entryway, nude. “I may come
down in a bit but feel free to start without me.” He closed the door and wondered
if Jeff was planning to act on his paranoia during the meeting but was uninterested
in showing up to find out.

            Molly,
as expected, was much harder to convince to leave her apartment.

“I don’t really want to be in the same room with him,” she said as Ben,
Hayden and Isobel stood in the hallway pleading with her to come out.

            Ben
gave up and went to get Rob who was already awake and ready to get it over
with.

            “Do
you need someone to watch Gabe?” Ben asked.

            “No,
he’ll be ok. I gave him a book about Egyptians to look at. Found it when we
were cleaning up the Cabels apartment. It’ll keep him occupied.”

            When
the men left Rob’s apartment they found the others, including Molly, gathered
in the common area. Everyone was silent and most were looking out the windows
at the still pouring rain.

            “I’m
going to make some tea,” Isobel said to the somber group.

            “I’d
like some,” Molly said.

            “Me
too,” added Ben.

            Isobel
came back ten minutes later with three steaming mugs and they began.