Passenger

Nickie.

God, Nickie.

*   *   *

“We can put the boat down right up there, see? See that old firehouse, Odd? That’s where we live.”

I knew the place.

“We?”

“You and me, Odd. You and me.”

“I told you my name.”

“That you did. But I believe you didn’t want to do it, and you never did tell me where you come from.”

“If you’ve been following me, then I shouldn’t need to.”

“Ha-ha-ha! You’re a careful one, Odd. That’s okay. I figure you’ve got some good ones to tell. All I need to do is get them out of you.”

“I’m sure you’ve got some, too, Qui

Qui

It looked like he was smiling.

It always looked like that kid was smiling.

four

Qui

I imagined he pictured himself as some kind of king, ruling what he could from his palace in that dead old firehouse. And I was amazed at what that kid was capable of doing there, too.

Somehow, he’d managed to save the solar panels on the firehouse and hook them into a wiring system that ran through the old cinderblock building. It was mostly dark in Marbury, he explained, so the panels didn’t do much more than power some flashlight-dim bulbs he’d installed. But Qui

He’d even strung up one of those campsite portable shower systems over the rusty tiled shower stall at the end of the firemen’s bathroom.

Qui

And he had food. Lots of it.

I must have drank a gallon of water, without stopping, from a yellowed plastic milk jug. I didn’t even think twice about how Qui

“Don’t drink that whole thing, Odd. You’ll puke.” Qui

Qui

There was hardly enough space in the garage to walk between the mounds of piled-up junk, even though I got the feeling that Qui

The garage itself was impenetrable. The old roll-up metal door had been bolted shut and piled high with the rotting husks of furniture from upstairs—rusting cot frames, file cabinets, metal desks—whatever couldn’t be used as fuel for Qui

The floor near the slope that cut down at the roll-up door was wet from the rain. I stepped on a dead sucker there and it popped. I felt the water in my belly come up a little when I did that.

“I don’t like it down here, Billy,” Qui

Inside the doorless rear of the ambulance, on an exposed area of concrete that showed through a vacant hole in the old vehicle’s rear compartment, Qui

“Where’s that go?” I said.

“I’m not really sure,” Qui

I wasn’t entirely convinced that Qui

*   *   *

“Here’s where you pee,” Qui

The kid just gave me the creeps, like he was trying too hard.

“I know it’s not the sweetest thing to think about, but you’ll get over it. There’s Odds out there who’ll kill you for drinking water. I bet you seen that plenty, too.”

“Uh. Yeah.”

“And this is my shower.” Qui

Set back into the rear corner of the bathroom where the firemen used to take showers was a chest-high divider of painted yellow cinderblock. Hanging from the roof behind it Qui

“You want to wash that shit off, Odd?” Qui

I shook my head.

“Come on,” he said. “There’s more I want you to see. And I told you I’d get you a shirt, too, Billy.”

I just wanted food.

Odd.

Billy.

I thought the kid was just trying to piss me off or something.

Fuck with me because he thinks I’m stupid.

I decided not to say anything about it, though.

There were two beds in there, like Qui

Qui

I nodded.

“I could cook you something. Something good. I bet you never had food as good as what I can make.”

He talked too much.

“Just let me show you a couple more things. So you don’t do nothing dumb. So we can be safe here. You don’t want to fuck things up, now, do you?”

You don’t know me, kid.

I shook my head.

Qui

He had a stove. He had everything. An entire room that had been filled with boxes and cans—more food than the kid could eat in five years.

“I’m good at finding food,” Qui

Qui

“First thing: There is no generator at night,” he said. “We can’t make any noise. They’ll hear us. This place has to look dead. Dark. You got that, Odd?”

“Okay.”

“Second thing: blackout curtains.”

There were no windows. Like so many of the buildings that had been left even partially standing, the windows in the firehouse had been boarded over with anything that could cover them. But Qui