The Long Way To Reno (17 page)

The
guy nodded with agreement. “Seriously, man. I just wanna get home. It’s been
awhile, but my family’s all I thought about since the prison was slammed, man.
What happened to you guys?”

He
was Hispanic, I think. He looked a little young, so maybe his crime was
committed when he was a teen. He didn’t look interested in scoping us out,
looking out and around the area with a wide-eyed look comparable to a lost
person in a new place – my anxiety didn’t feel as strong with him as it
did with the older guy. Despite the fact that he was in prison, he really
didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. I guess that was a good sign – some of
the peeps I’d played as video game characters, read about in graphic novels,
often turned out to be good guys despite their crimes.

Oh,
how stupid that sounded.

“We
were caught at work,” I answered, before Harley could. “You should take
advantage of the clothes here, dude. Running around like that might make people
nervous.”

“I
know, huh?” he agreed, looking down at the one piece. “Man, I stabbed a guy up
because he was talking shit about some friends of mine. I’ve had a lot of time
to think about how stupid I was. I ain’t no animal, or anything, either. I’ve
seen some shit since I got here, so…I get why you guys are, like, scared of me.
Trust me, I ain’t that desperate.”

Brandon
‘woofed’ in one direction, ears up and tail straight, looking towards the
freeway. Scanning the area, we couldn’t see or hear anything that sounded
unusual, and Brandon lost interest in whatever it was that had captured it in
the first place. He resumed sniffing around the trees, and we continued
talking.

Alex,
the only name he gave us, said he wasn’t going far with Tom and Nate. Nate was
the other guy, the one with the boyfriend who worked at a 24 Hour fitness
center. Nate had met Alex and Tom somewhere on I-80, on his way back from
visiting relatives in Elko.

“Nate’s
like a girl, you gotta protect him, he does crazy ass things when he’s scared,
and that gets tiring,” Alex said with a sigh. He looked at Harley with
sympathy. “Must be tired of watching over these ones.”

“One
stabbed one of the soldiers to bleed him dry, and another gave one a concussion
with a demolition tool,” he replied dryly. “One’s killed a horde of zombies,
and another figured out how to kill aliens. I think I’m the one in need of
protection, here.”

“Oh,”
Alex said, frowning at us and trying to figure us out. Emmy smiled at him while
I wondered who was actually doing the ‘protecting’ around here. When I thought
about it, it definitely gave me some confidence in that I was truly able to
handle myself, and others,
okay
. Why would I need a man for that?

“So…about
those clothes…?”

“I’ll
show you where it’s at,” I volunteered, ignoring Harley’s startled look. “And
take a shower, too. I think this house has its own propane system.”

“Awesome,
because I reek. Your name is…?”

I
only smiled at him, not bothering with giving it, while Alex waited. Then he shrugged
and looked at the others. Emmy followed my lead, and Harley exhaled heavily,
having already given his name. Alex only nodded with a look of understanding,
then lead the way into the house while Emmy asked Harley why I was trying to
make him jealous by flirting with another dude.

:
:

“Here
are the keys to the truck outside,” Emmy said to me a couple of hours later. I
caught them once she tossed them over.

I
examined the group of metal, then held it away from me with two fingers. “Emmy,
they’re
bloody
.”

“I
know, Brandon found them outside, in the side yard? I didn’t want to touch them
either, but…we might need them. I made sure not to tell either of those guys.”
She heaved a tired sigh, sitting next to me and watching as I rearranged the
contents of my messenger bag. Brandon followed after her, climbing up onto the
bed and lying down with a flop of sound, heavy head resting atop of my shin.
Emmy looked at my makeup pouch, some dried foods, two large bottles of water,
feminine hygiene products for just in case…

“It’s
a good thing I finished,” Emmy said, picking up one of the plugs. “I seriously
was just on it, like, it stopped a couple of days before.”

“Me
too…a week before, actually.”

“You
can lose your virginity with these things, you know that? But I guess
you
don’t have to worry about it.”

“Shut
up, you’re very uneducated!”

Emmy
laughed and scanned the room for something to hold her interest. We could hear
the men planning their different courses of action in the front room, and Emmy
and I started counting how many times Nate whined about missing his boyfriend,
and needing to get to a certain area ‘faster’. Tom was losing patience with
him.

“I
don’t think using a vehicle is wise,” I murmured. “But I’d rather get the walk
over with as soon as possible.”

“We
were okay with a vehicle the other day. We just had to stop and keep our eyes
open in the sky. Besides, I think it’s totally stupid that we have to be
careful in this area…
really
? Aliens attacking the scummy part of Nevada?
What’s out here that makes us so dangerous to them?” Emmy ranted, playing with
her hair.

“I
dunno.” I cleaned the keys as best as I could, using the sheets. They were
still stained and sticky. I gave them back to Emmy. “With your life, girl.”

“Why
can’t you hold them?”

“They’re
gross.”

“So?”

“Hold
them, because I’m not.”

She
huffed, taking them and stuffing them into one pocket when movement caught our
eye. It was Tom, and he looked us over with an expression that included a
creepy smile. I definitely did not like this man at all.

“You
two sound like my daughters,” he said quietly. “Arguing in their bedroom. It’s
nice to hear feminine voices in a house.”

“How
old are they?” Emmy asked, apparently oblivious to my dislike of Tom.

“Fifteen,
sixteen…I’ve got hope that they’re still out there, waiting for me. My wife’s a
smart broad- she should have things figured out by now.”

I
scowled, studying Tom with what felt like a glare to my face. He noticed it,
finally looking away from Emmy, and a look of contempt crossed his features. He
wiped a hand over his stubble and walked away, apparently to rummage in one of
the rooms for something he’d left. Then he rejoined the others.

Emmy
held the keys out. “Take them.”

I
pushed them back at her.  “Grab your stuff. That guy gives me the creeps.
We’re leaving today.”

“Really?
Why? How? I thought he was nice,” Emmy said, but she scrambled to grab her
things, keys jingling noisily while I barged out into the hallway and headed
for the guys.

They’d
found a map, and Nate had his cellphone in both hands, crying silent tears as
he listened to Alex relate the best route to Cold Springs from Spanish Springs.
Tom gave his input here and there, but when I approached, I noticed the
heaviness of his stare as he watched me approach Harley.

“Let’s
go, we’re ready,” I said to him quietly. Alex’s hands were waving over the map
and he was loudly demanding Tom’s suggestions about a proposed route through
the battered freeway to Sun Valley.

“Oh…?
I thought – “ Harley started to say, looking confused as I stepped closer
to him, to be heard over Tom’s voice and Alex’s protests.

“Let’s
go.
I’m
ready to go. We have our route, and we have our things. So let’s
go,” I repeated with a nod. Harley definitely wasn’t a reader of faces, because
he couldn’t see how serious I was.

He
frowned at me, looking over me to see Emmy approach us, ready to go. “Okay,
well – “

“Why
are they making the decisions?” Tom interrupted us loudly. “I thought we agreed
we’re going as a group.”

Emmy
and I looked at Harley for an explanation, and he gave this guilty grimace that
made me slap him lightly.

“What
the hell - ?”

“It
makes more sense to be in a group,” he protested, pulling away from me. “We’re
safer that way. More of us, more supplies.”

“I
don’t want to be in a group – sorry, no offence,” I said to Alex, my back
to Tom because I could feel his angry stare at the back of my head. Alex
shrugged, waved it off as he pulled the map closer to him.

“Why
not?” Nate interrupted. He gave me a stupefied expression. “It’s better in a
group. If we have more people, we have more protection, more safety –
it’s just the three of you, and two of you are girls - !”

“So?”
Emmy exclaimed, startling him. “Who cares? We’re all survivors, we all know how
to fight. How to survive. We’re comfortable with the three of us. We don’t even
know
you guys - !”

“We
don’t even know each other very well,” Harley said to her gently. Emmy gave him
a betrayed expression, but she didn’t continue, looking down at her shoes with
an expression of frustration. He looked at me.  “We’re going as a group.
It just makes more sense that way.”

“No
it doesn’t,” I practically hissed. “We’re fine on our own!”

“Then
why don’t
you
go on your own?” Tom suggested, hand on my arm. I jerked
it away from him, stepping away from him as he stood up. Alex was now focused
on us, looking from one to the other, then to Harley as Harley stood too, to
put himself between us.

“Don’t
put your hands on his girl, man, “ Alex warned Tom, making me give a sigh of
exasperation.

Harley
and I denied our relationship status at the same time, but Tom spoke over us,
saying, “If you don’t like our group plans, which are more logical than being
out there, outnumbered by
things
and soldiers, then take a walk, girly.”

“We
need our female population - !” Alex protested, then sputtered at the look I
gave him. “Not that – for, y’know, repopulation an’ stuff - !”

“She’s
not going off by herself,” Harley told Tom, having to raise his voice to do so,
but I cut him off by saying to Tom, “Groups are a huge target to those things
out there, and Rabid don’t care how many of us are out there, so, no, big
groups DON’T make sense! Ours is comfortable as it is - !”

“You’re
wrong, you’re wrong, you’re wrong,” Tom said over me, raising his voice to be
heard, and all of us started talking over each other. Nate had cried out for us
to stop shouting, and Emmy looked apprehensive, fingers inching to cover her
ears. Brandon came in, alert and ready, and saw her state – must’ve felt
some sort of doggie concern, because he pressed his large body against her and
started barking at our general direction.

Alex
let loose with a loud whistle, making us stop. He folded up the map, giving us
all a dirty look. “Let’s not fight. It’s a waste of time. There’s enough
supplies in this house for everybody, so everybody stock up. C’mon, let’s just
go. There’s others out there, Tom, that’ll be more agreeable.”

“Who’s
the man in this relationship, anyway, man?” Tom tried to laugh, but it came out
as this strangled huff of air. Harley gave him a dirty look, clearly insulted.
“Control that woman of yours, make her see reason. Our reason.”

Harley
looked at me, looking pissed. “It’ll be better like this, E-!”

“Tom
reminds me of Jeff,” I declared, preventing him from saying my name aloud. Tom
looked puzzled, but Harley knew exactly what I was talking about, and he didn’t
argue anymore. Seeing that he got my point, I waited for him to acknowledge my
fear. He did with a slow nod, then looked at the others.