Страница 53 из 102
He put a hand on her shoulder. “Come on, get in.”
• • • •
Joh
People on the streets were hurrying along, heads down, many clutching handkerchiefs or hand towels to their faces.
“How are your folks?” Joh
“They’re good people,” Joh
“If you were in high school, I was like, minus two years old.” She wiped under her eyes with her knuckle.
“Oh, right. Duh.” Sometimes he forgot he was almost forty-two years old. It just didn’t seem possible.
He spotted the military vehicle that had passed them, parked in the parking lot of the firehouse, beside a big silver delivery truck.
Joh
People in hazmat suits were carrying sacks and boxes to idling cars. Joh
Joh
The soldier came around to the window. He was a young guy, Asian. “Two weeks, at least.”
Joh
“Feed them and keep them hydrated.”
“And what if she gets sick, and I get sick? Who keeps
us
fed and hydrated?”
The solider looked left and right, like he was looking for help. “Look, I’m just handing out supplies. I don’t have the answers. Listen to the radio.”
How
could
they do it, Joh
“There aren’t enough hazmat suits, are there?” he asked the soldier. “Not enough doctors and nurses.”
Joh
• • • •
Joh
Ten minutes later she came out and went to the next house down. The Pointers lived there: old lady Pointer, always digging in her flower garden out front; her son Archie, who worked at the body shop; and Archie’s kids, Mackenzie and Parker.
What the hell was Kelly doing? She wasn’t the type to be ripping off her neighbors while they were in there dying. Whatever it was, she was all but guaranteeing she would catch the virus.
Cursing under his breath, Joh
“We gotta leave by three, don’t forget.”
Clutching the doorknob, Joh
“I won’t, Dad.” He closed the door and headed toward the Pointer’s house.
For once, Joh
The Pointers’ front door was ajar. Joh
“In here.”
Hands in his pockets, feeling like he was surrounded by the virus, Joh
The four of them were sitting on couches and stuffed chairs, hands in their laps, all perfectly still except for Parker, whose lips were wrapped around a straw, sucking greedily from a water bottle Kelly was holding, his throat pulsing as he swallowed. The TV was on, showing some Pixar flick. Wet stains bloomed on the couch cushions beneath each of the Pointers. The smell of piss was overpowering.
“Jesus, what are you doing?” Joh
Kelly held out a mask. Joh
“What are you doing?” Joh
She shrugged. “My folks have it. I know I’ve been exposed.”
“No, you don’t. You don’t know that for sure.” Joh
Kelly chuckled. “Dancing with death. That’s poetic.”
Actually, it was a line from one of his band’s songs, but after saying it out loud he was too embarrassed to admit he’d just quoted his own band’s lyrics.
Kelly wiped Parker’s chin with a kitchen towel she had hooked through her belt. “I kept thinking about Mackenzie and Parker. I babysit them sometimes. I kept picturing them in their rooms, all alone, scared to death. Not able to move. Hungry. So I came to check on them. Parker was just like I pictured him—all alone in his room. Probably since yesterday.”
“You
touched
him? Jesus.”
Kelly put her hands on her hips. “He can
hear
you, you know. So can his mom and dad.”
“Sorry,” Joh
Kelly squatted in front of Lara Pointer, guided the straw into her mouth. Immediately, Lara began pulling on the straw, her mouth suddenly animated, looking completely normal. The news had described how the virus keeps people from
initiating
movement, but not from reacting; seeing it, however, was another thing completely. If she could drink, why couldn’t she talk?
When she’d finished, Kelly went to the Pointer’s sink and refilled the big plastic water bottle before heading for the door. Joh
Instead of turning right, back toward her house, Kelly headed left across the lawn.
“Where are you going now?” Joh
“When’s the last time you saw the Cucuzzas?”
“What are you go
She stopped, turned to face him. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“You’re out of your mind. It’s like you want to die—”
She held up both hands to ward off his words and shouted, “They’re all alone. They’re scared. Can’t you see it in their eyes?”
He stood on the Pointer’s front stoop, not wanting to think about their eyes.
“Can’t you?” Kelly asked.
“Yeah. I can see it.” He would see it for the rest of his life. And, God, he didn’t want to go through it. Joh