Corn, Cows, and the Apocalypse (Part 1) (22 page)

             
“No,” I grabbed his arm and instantly I felt better.  I apparently just needed to feel goodness from someone to rid myself of the taste of bad.  “I’m sorry.  I’m being a drama queen.  August, go dance with this fine man.”

             
“Lenore, I can see your upset.  I’m not leaving you.”

             
I shook my head.  “I’m fine now.  I’ll be more upset if I ruin your night.  Please, August, dance, have fun.” 

             
“Are you sure?”

             
I kissed her cheek and leaned into her ear to whisper.  “He’s so hot, if you don’t dance with him, I’ll steal him out from under you.”  When I leaned back she was smirking at me with narrowed eyes.  I tipped my chin as if begging her to
try me.
  She went back on the dance floor with her fine man and I tried not to think about whatever I had just experienced.

             
It was quite possible that I had simply guessed that he was a rapist based on his obvious flare for manhandling women without their consent, but that wasn’t it.  I knew what he had done, and for the briefest moment I could see the faces of his victims. 

             
Apparently, this was what my instincts were.  I couldn’t call it psychic, but only because that made it seem like a side show trick.  It was more like a memory that I already had, but just needed to retrieve it.  Which brought to light a good number of other questions, but I ignored them all. 

             
I was just getting used to the responsibility of caring for my family.  The last thing I wanted to add to my plate was my slow descent into madness. 

-
The Mayor’s Agenda-

             
It’s strange; even when no one is technically in charge someone always steps up to take the job.  The world had essentially been cut in half.  Chaos had ensued and yet, a civility formed within it. 

             
The Lord of the Flies theory presumed that without leaders and direction, we would turn into animals, worshiping false gods, and taking on savagery as second nature.  Golding didn’t put much faith in the human species, or perhaps he just had a statement to make about parents who didn’t watch over their children. 

             
Either way, the idea that civilization would simply collapse, turn in on itself, or start resembling the golden ox scene from the bible, was preposterous.  The truth was nothing changed except our perceptions.  Before the apocalypse, we all perceived the people around us as being relatively honest and good willed.  Post apocalypse no one cared what anyone thought, so they didn’t hide what they really wanted. 

             
The only taboo left fully intact was murdering a real human, and even then if you can prove you were in the right, no one will care.  So, really, it wasn’t that we slipped back into a world where sacrifices and multiple gods were normal.  We just slipped back into the old west, where there were just enough people to demand a system of law, but not enough to actually enforce it. 

             
It was early morning by the time we got home.  Haden and Devin went straight upstairs to finish what they had started at the barn dance.  August was reluctantly saying goodbye to her man, but not doing a good job of it since they were both inching there way inside with each kiss. 

             
I went into the kitchen and turned on the radio.  Jimmy the Card was finishing up his late night doting on his fans.  I couldn’t help but laugh at all the women out there in love with his voice.  After seeing him in person, the disappointment was enough to keep me away from radio sex for life. 

             
“Will you two just go upstairs?”  I chided August. 

             
“You know the rules, Lenore.”  She said with wide eyes. 

             
I moved around the island to get a better view and looked over Mr. Fine.  When I touched him after my contact with the old rapist, I felt a relief there.  If I was in supercharged psychic mode, I imagined that I would have felt if he had dishonorable intentions. 

             
“He’s okay, August.  Go have some fun.”  I stood up straight.  “Besides, he knows he has four people to contend with if he doesn’t behave, right?”  I looked to him for an answer. 

             
“Yes, ma’am.”  Mr. Fine said and went so far as to salute me, but he meant it with the greatest respect, especially since I was giving him permission to go upstairs and get laid. 

             
August ran upstairs with Mr. Fine fast on her tail.  I laughed as I went back to my radio and turned it up just enough to give everyone privacy, but not enough that I wouldn’t hear a scream or un-permissible struggle.  I couldn’t help but wonder when, over the last two months, I had turned into the one that gave the permission for men to sleep over. 

             
I made myself some instant coffee and sat at the table to listen to Jimmy.

             
“Now that my fans are settled in for the night, vacant of their raging desires, I will bring my broadcast to a close.”  Jimmy’s voice was deep, but smooth, a hard combination to pull off.  “But before I do, it looks like we have an announcement straight down from our very own Mayor Thompson.  Starting tomorrow, that’s today for all you early roosters, he will be sending his military group west to collect your unwanted, inactive grim. 

             
“The mayor has explained in his press release here, that the tournaments are a resounding success and he wants to collect more grim for the upcoming events, thereby returning our state to its former glory of the good life.  Wow, way to go Mayor Thompson.  That man can make a dangerous, unorthodox, extermination plan, sound like a civic duty.”
              I nearly spit my coffee out at Jimmy’s joke.  He was right of course.  The mayor had a way of talking people into anything.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about exterminating the grim, but I did know that I didn’t want to have my soul sucked.  With that in mind I couldn’t help, but agree with the plan. 

             
And yet my instincts still flared in my gut, trying to tell me something.  Until I knew for sure though, there was nothing to do, but save the world the only way I knew how: with after sex breakfast.  I pulled out the pans and got to work. 

-I Shaved my Legs for This-

             
I couldn’t help but feel giddy at going to the tournaments again.  I blamed it on the excitement of August competing for her chance to win a spot in the finals with Haden and Devin, but it was clear that wasn’t my only reason for enthusiasm when I arrived to the truck.

             
The snow had started to come down, but it wasn’t nearly as cold as February usually was.  However, that was still no excuse for me to be wearing a low cut top and the tightest jeans I could find.  I tried to hide it under my winter coat, but since I couldn’t stand to zipper myself up in the claustrophobic straight jacket, I wasn’t fooling anyone. 

             
Even if my clothes had gone unnoticed, the makeup, carefully crafted up do—with just enough tendrils hanging out to make it look thrown together—were a dead give-away.  I even took the trouble of donning some perfume, which in hindsight should have waited until we were at the tournament so I didn’t suffocate my friends. 

             
“Well, hello beautiful,” Devin whistled from the truck cab as I came out of the house to join the others.  “You’re sitting next to me this trip.”

             
Haden glared at me at first, but she seemed to lose the resolve in her anger and continued to strap down our supplies in back.  August looked me over introspectively.  When I reached the cab she touched my shoulder.

             
“Lenore…”  The usual scolding question mark followed my name, but her eyes looked troubled.  She must have figured out that I had slept with her brother.  I wasn’t sure why she would disapprove, but Garrett liked his privacy, so I never discussed it with her. 

             
I waited for the inevitable conversation where she told me her concerns about getting attached to a man I’m only going to see three or four times and year, but it didn’t come.  She squeezed my shoulder and ushered me in the cab without a single overly protective mom statement.

             
I was a little disappointed, but before I could say anything, Devin reached over and closed the passenger side door behind me.  He locked the automatic lock and latched the back window.  I perked an eyebrow at him, but I suspected that he was just being playful. 

             
He slid me over to him with far more ease than I would have preferred and put his arm around my neck.  He rubbed his nose over my forehead as August and Haden clambered about outside trying to get in.  They rebuked him and commented on the cold, but he ignored them. 

             
“Is this for him?”  He asked.  I noted that he kept his lips almost motionless so Haden and August couldn’t read his words.

             
“Maybe.”

             
He took in a deep breath.  “I don’t approve.”  He said as if he felt begrudged to have to tell me.  He must have expected me to simply give up Garrett just because he said it.  “He’s not the man for you.”

             
“It’s not a relationship, Devin.  It’s just sex.”

             
“You have me for that.”

             
I groaned.  “Devin.  I don’t want that for us.”

             
“I don’t want that fucker touching you.  I’ve seen the scars.  All of them.”  He added in case I wouldn’t understand what he was saying.  My eyes widened mostly out of the shock that he had been peeping at me.  “I don’t want him getting pleasure from you after he’s caused you so much pain.”

             
I sighed.  There was no way to make him understand.  “Devin, we were alone in this house for three months.  He didn’t beat me the entire time.  He’s a slow man to get to know, but he’s not nearly as cold as he seems.”  Haden slammed her fist against the window and swore a list of profanities at Devin.  He didn’t even seem to notice, or he was just immune to her insults.  “You know I wouldn’t be who I am now if it weren’t for what he did.”

             
“Do you…love him?”  He held his breath waiting for the painful answer to follow.

             
“No!”  I laughed at him.  “Right now I only love one man, and that’s you.” 

             
His eyes danced over mine and he smiled revealing how flattered he was.  “You really do, don’t you?”  He tipped my chin up with his finger and kissed me tenderly.  “Alright, I’ll back down on Garrett if you promise me that you won’t let him harm you anymore.”  I opened my mouth to offer an amused “yes, dear,” but he interrupted already anticipating my response.  “I’m serious Lenore.  No more taking punches you don’t have to.  You’re better than that now.  Someone comes at you; you give them a reason to never do it again.  Understand?” 

             
I blinked away my shock at Devin being the forceful father figure, to pair with August’s motherly one.  I nodded unable to find a good balance between, “okay” and “yes, sir.”  He kissed me again this time less chastely.  When he pulled back he winked at me and looked me over.  “Well, you may want to keep this plutonic, but it doesn’t mean you have to start thinking of me as your brother.” 

             
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” 

-
Hollywood-

             
Since none of us had competed in the past tournaments, we didn’t know about the changes that had taken place.  The glitz and glamor that donned the entrance was astonishing.  The once gladiator style event with hot dogs and beer, had turned into a red carpet movie premier event with champagne and fancy clothes.  Photographers and reporters dappled the area akin to drug sniffing dogs at an airport.

             
As we approached the Qwest I was starting to feel less overdressed, and more underdressed.  Add to that being late, due to the snow, we decided to sneak in the doors with the least hullabaloo, so we didn’t disrupt the festivities.  Unfortunately, we didn’t make it. 

             
“Haden Summers!”  A photographer yelled right before blinding us with the flash on his camera.  A slew of flashes came from all around us and I was instantaneously being crushed between August and Devin.  

             
“What the fuck is this?”  I heard Haden say before the explosion of random questions left me deaf to anything but Devin’s thumping heart. 

             
As the stars in my vision faded I could see we were surrounded by a mob of nosey reporters and paparazzi, but without such things as restraining orders and common decency to keep them at bay, we were helpless to do anything but humor them.

             
Haden was being crushed into Devin’s chest right along with me, but I couldn’t feel August anymore.  I panicked looking for her.  I tried to wrench away from Devin, but he gripped me harder and tapped my shoulder.  I looked up and strained my neck to meet my ear to his mouth.  “She went to register.” 

             
I nodded feeling my panic subside, but my aversion to crowded areas was rising in its place.  As if that wasn’t enough, the loud gunshot not far from my head sent my heart into my throat.

             
The rampant attack of questions and pressing bodies, stopped.  The mob now calm took a successive step back.  Haden brandished her gun high, not pointing it at anyone.  Her hearty glare however, she aimed at everyone. 

             
“Now,” she used her big voice, the deep throaty one that either instilled fear or arousal depending on what words she paired it with.  “Someone tell me what the fuck is going on here.”

             
A throat cleared among the aghast reporters and Jimmy the Card stepped out.  His red hair was a little more chic, and his leather jacket and jeans, though reminiscent of an 80’s movie, did make him look a little less pubescent.  He even donned tinted glasses, and if I wasn’t mistaken eyeliner. 

             
“Haden,” he smiled showing off his broad teeth that his parents had probably tried and failed to repress with braces.  “This is your first debut since your spectacular win three months ago.”  His voice could have sold cars, won elections, and narrated for movies, but for now, he was Jimmy the Card, the voice of the metro. 

             
“These ladies and gentlemen were sent on behalf of fans here and the surrounding states.”  He continued to explain.  “They just want to ask a few questions and take a few pictures.  No reason to offer a demonstration.”  He winked at her.  I was pretty sure that Jimmy could have talked Haden into giving him her gun if he tried hard enough.

             
Devin had already let go of her, and he was easing up on me.  Haden looked around at everyone and slowly holstered her gun under her arm.  “You mean this is all for me?”

             
“Well they will report on the tournaments as well, but certainly the enthusiasm is for you.”  Jimmy raised his hands to the reporters, single handedly becoming the force keeping them at bay instead of the threat of Haden shooting them.  “Why don’t we head inside to your reserved seating, and I’m sure these fine people can ask their questions in a non-threatening way.”

             
We exchanged looks for consensus before moving, but in the end Jimmy’s forward progression was the only thing that propelled us into motion.