Apocalypse Asunder (26 page)

“We couldn’t take your—” she began, but Jessica cut her off.

“It’s not my RV; it’s just a place we’re squatting in.” she said reassuringly. 
“And there’s no way I’m leaving you out here between me and the truck.”
she carefully didn’t say.  In the rain, with half the contents stuffed casually into garbage bags and the rest of it haphazardly strewn all across the pickup’s bed, Jessica thought it might have escaped notice what was in the back.  But she didn’t want to bet on it.

Not after Austin had . . .

“He’s alive.”
she told herself fiercely, breaking that thought off cold. 
“He’ll find us.  Stick to the plan.”

“We are tired.” the woman said.  “We’ve been on the move for days.”

“Well, eat, then I guess get some sleep unless you’ve got somewhere better to be.  It’s almost dusk anyway.”

The woman burst out laughing, a sardonic outburst full of more than a little frustration.  “No, not really.”

“Candice, come out here.”  Jessica paused a moment, then turned at footsteps.  Without having to be prompted, Candice put herself on Jessica’s left side; the side her mother wouldn’t use to draw and aim guns.  Jessica placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder.  “This is my daughter, Candice.  I’m Jessica.”

“Oh, uh, sorry.” the woman said, clearly realizing she hadn’t done much more than show up and cry.  “I’m Catherine, and this is my son Todd.”

“Hi.” Candice said shyly, pressing herself against Jessica’s leg and waist.  “I’m glad you’re safe.”

Catherine laughed again, the same harsh laugh devoid of any actual humor, as she gestured vaguely around at the RV.  “Yeah, well, I guess this is probably as good as it gets now.”

* * * * *

Jessica woke with a start at the clatter of metal on metal.  Her hand, already on the butt of the Taurus, flinched violently as she straightened in the bench seat.  Before she fully registered what she was doing, the gun was halfway out of the holster as she blinked rapidly to clear her eyes and head of slumber.

The previous night, Catherine and Todd had finished the beans they’d been given; and then retired to the bedroom.  Actually, first, they’d cycled through the bathroom, and then gone to bed.  Jessica had heard the toilet flush, and water running, and had investigated before going to sleep herself.

She didn’t know anything, really, about RVs; but apparently the vehicle had its own water.  It had a tank somewhere apparently; because the sink worked, and the toilet refilled after being flushed.  For the first time in nearly two months she and Candice were both able to use the bathroom without having to wrinkle their noses up against the smell, and the sight of what was in the bowl.

After their ‘guests’ had retired, Jessica had played cards with Candice for a while.  But it had been a long couple of days, with not very good sleep breaking up the days.  Candice had barely lasted much past sundown, and had sacked out on the dinette bench seat.

Jessica hadn’t been far behind her daughter; she’d been exhausted as well.  She’d carefully ventured outside to the truck to retrieve a few supplies she thought might be useful in the morning, locked the RV’s door behind herself, and then done what she could to ensure the bedroom’s occupants couldn’t sneak up on her.

Catherine was in the doorway of the RV’s bedroom, looking alarmed.  After the two newcomers had ‘retired’, and before she had given into her fatigue, Jessica had built a little stack of cookware in front of the bedroom door.  The RV’s cabinets didn’t have much to offer – what she already had in the back of the truck was much better – but it had clearly done its job.  When the bedroom door had opened, the miniature stack of pots and pans had tipped over onto the oven sheets.  Noisily.

That noise had woken Jessica, and she found herself staring at the other woman for several seconds while her brain processed what was happening and tried to decide what was going on.  Jessica finally caught up with herself and smiled slightly; pulling her hand with the gun back below the table so it wasn’t in plain sight anymore.  “Good morning.”

Sun was streaming through the RV’s ‘windows’, or at least, where the windows were now that the glass was gone.  She heard some birds chirping their morning songs, and not that far away either.  Even though she’d slept sitting up in the dinette bench, with her head slumped against the cabinet enclosure behind her, she felt
much
better than she had yesterday morning.

“What the hell is all this?” Catherine asked.  She didn’t move, but she gestured to the scattered cookware at her feet.

“What’s wrong?” Candice cried as she sat up from where she’d been curled up on the bench next to Jessica.  Or, rather, tried to sit up; she caught her shoulder on the bottom edge of the table with a loud thump, followed by a cry of pain.

“Security.” Jessica said unapologetically as she clutched the forty-five out of sight beneath the table.

“From me?”

“I don’t know you.”

“I’m . . . we’re . . . Jesus!” the woman sputtered.

Jessica glanced at Candice.  “Everything’s fine Candy Bear.  Are you okay?”

“Ow.” Candice complained, rubbing at her shoulder.

“Were you going to shoot me?” Catherine demanded.

“If I needed to.” Jessica answered, struggling to keep from getting irritated.  Or, rather, more irritated than she already was.  With effort, she tried to modulate her tone to something somewhat less sharp.  “I don’t know you.” she repeated.

“We’re just two people.” Catherine exclaimed.  “A mother and child, same as you.”

“Then you should understand my caution.” Jessica said, the response coming out short despite her intentions.

“What—”

“We’ve been through a lot of bad things.” Candice said, suddenly injecting herself into the building argument between the two adults.

Catherine’s eyes moved to the ten-year-old in surprise.  Jessica watched Candice return the gaze without any trace of shyness or uncertainty, and stood up.

“We’ve been through a lot.  We all have, you two and us alike.” she said, still trying to find it in herself to soothe the situation over.  “I can offer you and Todd some breakfast, then Candice and I will get going.”

Catherine looked back to her, and Jessica could see a mix of emotions and questions swirling behind the woman’s face.  Jessica waited several seconds, then shrugged.  Moving over to the kitchenette, she started rummaging in the bag for food.  When she started peeling labels off cans, she saw – out of the corner of her eye as she worked – Catherine go into the RV’s bathroom.  The woman kicked cookware out of her way a little grumpily, but otherwise raised no further fuss for the moment.  When the door closed, Jessica put the pistol back in its holster.

She got more cans of beans and vegetables – black beans, red beans, peas, and spinach this time – stripped and opened before she lit the little camp stove to heat the food.  The RV’s silverware drawer supplied more spoons, which Jessica was willing to use after a quick polish with a wet-wipe from her bag of supplies.  She couldn’t imagine anyone putting utensils away in a drawer in a kitchen if they weren’t clean; and they did look clean except for the barest traces of dust.

When Catherine emerged from the bathroom, she went back into the bedroom, but soon returned with her son who went into the bathroom for his turn.

“Um, can I help . . . ”

“Not necessary.” Jessica said.  “Just have a seat.  This will be hot in another minute or so.”  She didn’t like the woman standing around like that.  Catherine took the hint readily enough and squeezed past Jessica to get to the dinette.  Candice slid around to the section closest to the kitchenette, leaving the other half for Catherine.

“Where are you headed?” the woman asked as she sat down.

“Away from Ocala.” Jessica said.

“Where?”

Jessica was silent for several seconds, turning unhappy thoughts laced with a fair share of various – negative – emotions about in her mind.  Anger, over the push in the question.  Annoyance, over the as-yet unspoken suggestion that she should take Catherine and Todd on as two more people to look after.  And
guilt
over not wanting to do whatever she could to help them.

It might not be nice, and it might not be ‘right’ by some definitions; but she had Candice to think about.  Jessica figured her story so far in the post-apocalypse period wasn’t the worst one out there, but she’d gone through her share of hardship.  Had seen some bad things, been through more, and done some stuff she still wasn’t happy with.  All of it was still fueling nightmares, and only some of them involving zombies.

People in other vehicles had zipped right past her on I-85 back in Atlanta on Saturday, on outbreak weekend as Catherine had termed it.  More than one; they couldn’t have
all
failed to notice Jessica’s car was occupied.  Not a single one had stopped.  The majority of Tyler Morris’ trained mercenaries had – oddly enough – acted in very mercenary fashion and abandoned Morris and the other less able people in his forming group that same night.

And those same mercenaries, all of them ex-employees of Morris’ company, had then turned up in Knoxville a few days later.  Showed up and shot their way into the Eagle compound.  She didn’t
know
they’d killed the occupants – the Morris group – but she knew they’d killed a group of Knoxville guards at one of the town’s checkpoints while entering the area.  And their leader had been threatening her and Austin and Candice with quite a bit, some of it moving beyond mere killing, before he met an untimely end and they’d escaped.

She didn’t think everyone in the world was bad.  She really didn’t.  But the problem, the danger, was how to figure out who was bad, who might turn bad, and who was still someone who she could trust to – at a minimum – not be bad.  They didn’t have to be good, they just had to not act against her.

Jessica couldn’t risk being wrong.  Zombies, scavenging and scrounging for the basics of life, staying safe and sheltered . . . all that was hard enough.  Was already quite dangerous.  But she was under no illusions.  Zombies were bad; but bad people were
worse
.

“I said last night the RV’s not mine.” Jessica finally said as she stirred the cans’ contents with a spoon.  “It’s just a stopping point.  Candice and I are going to eat, then you can have it.”

“But where are you headed?”

Jessica turned the little propane stove’s burner off with a loud click.  The damn cans were warm enough.  “That’s our business.” she said as calmly as she could manage.  To be honest, she wasn’t all that sure how calm the words came out.  She didn’t yell them, or throw them at Catherine; but neither were they delivered with a gentle tenderness that might have softened their impact.

“You’re leaving?”

“Yes.  After breakfast.” she added pointedly as she used a dish towel to pick up two of the cans so she could transfer them over to the table.

“What if I wanted to go with you?”

“I’d have to say no.”

Catherine stared at Jessica as she set the cans down.  Jessica backed up, keeping her head in Catherine’s direction, so she could collect the rest of the ersatz breakfast.  As she returned to the table with them, she heard the bathroom door open behind her.

“I’m hungry.” the boy said, sounding plaintive.

“I know honey, but there’s food.  Have something to eat.” Catherine said, her gaze sliding from Jessica to look past her at Todd, who went right past Jessica without stopping.  He limped to the table and reached for one of the cans.  They weren’t steaming hot this time, but Jessica got the impression it wouldn’t have stopped the boy even if; because he grabbed it up and went right to work with the spoon.

“Sit down.” Catherine said, sliding over some as she pulled her son down on the bench next to her.  He didn’t resist, but he didn’t stop eating either.

“Candice, eat.” Jessica said, putting the rest of the cans down.  She pushed some black beans over – Candice hated red beans – while taking red for herself, and pulling a can of peas over as well for her and her daughter to split as a vegetable.  The beans were filling, more or less edible; but primarily they were quick and served to supply the protein that was completely lacking in most of the snack food that had so often tided them over since starting this journey.

“Why can’t we come with you?” Catherine asked.

“Because I’d rather go alone.” Jessica said as she sat on the very edge of the bench and poked in the red beans with her spoon.  “Nothing personal.”

“But we don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Lots of places to go.” Jessica said, shrugging with her mouth full.  The beans weren’t quite hot, but the canning process softened them enough to eat anyway.  Two chews and a swallow finished off each mouthful.  She just wanted to eat and leave.  “Pick one.”

“But I told you what we’ve been through.”

“We’ve been through a lot too.”

“So we should work together.”

“That’s where we disagree.”

“Damnit!” Catherine snapped, slapping the table in frustration.  Jessica’s spoon clattered against the side of her can as she released it and dropped her hand to the Taurus.  The other woman froze her outburst of frustration when she saw Jessica’s hand dip for the weapon.  But her tone was still far from entirely calm when she spoke again.  “Why are you so . . . what’s wrong with you?”