“It’s a problem,” said Carrie, “but I have a plan…”
The Trek Begins
The night air was alive with the calls of frogs, crickets, birds, and other wildlife as Lacy tiptoed quietly through the door of her shack and set down her heavy straw basket. Danny sat up suddenly in bed and peered over at her in the dim light.
“Sorry, I tried not to wake you,” she said. “I gathered some food for tomorrow morning.”
Danny stretched and swung his feet to the floor. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he said. “I can find my own way back.”
She nodded.
“Have you got a pen and paper?” he said.
Lacy found a pad of paper she’d scrounged from an abandoned home nearby, and the remains of a pencil crudely sharpened with a knife. Danny sketched on the pad for a few minutes.
“Just in case anything happens – in case we get separated or something – here’s a map to where I live.” He handed her a slip of paper. On the crudely drawn street map were two ‘X’s, along with the addresses – one marked ‘our house’ – the other marked ‘the College’. “If anything goes wrong meet me at our house. If I’m not there tell my brother what happened. He might be able to help.”
“I thought you said you fought with him all the time.”
“Yeah, a lot of the time we don’t get along, but he’ll help if he can. If he’s not at home he might be at the College. His name is Richard – Richard Hampton. Here,” he took back the map and wrote his brother’s name on the bottom.”
Danny was getting stronger every day, but still tired easily. They’d spent the morning hiking the fields nearby to prepare him for the return trip, and that physical exertion had drained his strength. He crawled back into bed and closed his eyes.
Lacy gazed down at him as he lay still in the candlelight. He looked so sweet and innocent that she was overwhelmed. She sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled the blanket across his shoulders, then kissed him gently on the forehead.
To her surprise, his eyes opened and he smiled at her. Before she could pull away, he lifted up his head and kissed her on the lips. Her first impulse was to pull away, but instead she lingered, as the emotions that had washed over her when she first touched his hand struck again, this time with the intensity of a tidal wave. She sat bolt upright.
“Sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to upset you. You looked so beautiful…”
The kiss was like nothing Lacy had ever experienced before. She got up, stumbled back to her bed and flopped down, staring at the ceiling. Her self-control had just flown out the window.
The next morning after breakfast they prepared for the trek to the city. Worried that Danny would have trouble making the trip, Lacy made up a small pack with only some extra dried meat for him to carry, and carried the rest herself.
She was excited about the journey, and even more excited at the prospect of seeing Vancouver again. She watched as Danny shrugged on his pack and adjusted the straps. Her discomfort when he first arrived had evolved into something close to panic since their kiss the night before.
Somehow since last night Danny had been transformed in her eyes – almost like he was a different person from the boy she had pulled from the river a few days ago. New, mysterious emotions were steadily eroding the instinctive alertness that had kept her safe and alive all these years.
They set off, following the secret trails that Lacy knew intimately, heading north toward the great city. Lacy led the way, checking behind her regularly to make sure that Danny was keeping pace. To her surprise, he seemed to be holding up well.
They had hiked for several hours when she heard a crash and turned back to find Danny stumbling to his feet after a fall. About thirty yards behind him she caught an almost subconscious glimpse of moving shadow. Something, or someone, disappeared behind a tree – so quickly she wasn't sure what she saw. She stood for a moment scouring the surrounding woods, but saw no more sign of movement.
“What?” said Danny. “I just tripped on a branch.”
“Are you okay?” she said, and Danny nodded.
“Do you want to rest for a while?”
He shook his head.
They hiked for another twenty minutes. Lacy glanced behind several times along the way, hoping to see the movement again. There was nothing, but she could see that Danny was fading.
“Do you want to take a break?” she said. “There’s a little clearing up ahead that would be perfect.”
“I’m fine,” Danny said. It was obvious that he needed rest, but would never admit it.
Boys are so strange, she thought.
“Well I need a break,” she said. “I think we should stop for a while.”
They took off their packs and sat down in a cool grassy glade. Within minutes Danny had slid down and was asleep with his head on Lacy’s pack. She quietly slipped away and up a nearby hill to scout the route ahead.
In the distance she saw the outline of the Sky-train track snaking its way across the landscape. She scanned the intervening expanse for signs of travelers or other dangers, but found none. Beyond the track loomed the hazy, cloud-covered shadow of the North Shore Mountains. She sat down on a soft patch of moss and relaxed.
Lacy sensed that she’d reached a turning point in her life. Danny’s arrival had shattered her peaceful but lonely existence and it could never be reassembled. She was embarking on a new journey – one that she guessed would be dramatically different from the old one. The thought both excited and frightened her. She imagined once again setting foot in the city she had abandoned so long ago. She thought of the millions of people, the traffic, the fantastic sights and sounds, the unimaginable towering skyscrapers.
After about twenty minutes of daydreaming she rose and hiked back down the hill, quickly reaching the clearing where she’d left Danny. There was a depression in the grass where he’d been sleeping, and her pack still lay on the ground, but Danny was gone.
Carrie has a Plan
Richard had spent an uncomfortable night sleeping on the concrete floor of Carrie’s living space. Now he rubbed his eyes awake as he watched her rummage through a box in one corner. She came up with a sturdy knife in a leather sheath, and a short length of rope, both of which she handed to him.
“You’ll need these for the road,” she said.
He wasn’t sure he understood her plan, but he understood his own role in it, and took a leap of faith that she knew what she was doing. He prayed that he was right about her.
They walked across the floor of the giant complex and stopped just outside the front entrance. Carrie cast around and finally headed in the direction a large, overweight youth wearing a blue vest. As they approached, he was turning to greet a woman approaching the entrance.
“Hello, welcome to Wal-Mart,” he said to the woman.
The vest, which was ragged and threadbare, sported the name ‘Wal-Mart’ in faded yellow stitching, along with an inane yellow ‘happy-face’ logo.
“What was that all about?” he whispered to Carrie.
“Billy's a little on the slow side,” she answered. “This place used to be what they called a ‘big-box’ department store. It had ‘greeters’ who would welcome shoppers inside. He found one of the original vests the greeters wore. A guy who knew the history made the mistake of telling him about it, and for some reason Billy took to the idea. Now he greets everyone who comes in.”
Billy spotted them.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hello Billy,” she answered, smiling. “This is my friend Richard,” she said, nodding toward Richard.
“Hi,” said Richard, shaking Billy’s hand.
“Are you going to be here for a while?” Carrie said to Billy. “I might need you to do me a favour.”
“Sure, I’ll be here. Got work to do. Gotta greet everybody.”
“I’ll come and see you a little later.”
They went back inside and made for the northeast corner of the complex, finally stopping at a locked space that looked like it had once been a warehouse. A wall of heavy gauge steel mesh separated them from an area about a hundred yards wide, and about half that distance deep.
It was now a repository for resources essential for the day-to-day operation of the community. Richard saw several motorcycles, something that looked like a gas generator, and a few pieces of electrical equipment he didn’t recognize. There were also picks, shovels, saws, sledgehammers, lamps, pots and pans. In the farthest corner was a roped-off area containing fifteen or twenty bicycles. A sturdy gate, with an integrated heavy-duty lock mechanism, blocked the entrance.
They walked right past the gate and Carrie stopped in front of a concrete pillar about twenty feet down the hallway. With a crook of her finger she motioned for Richard to come forward. She pointed to a spot on the west side of the pillar.
“Stand right here till I get back,” she said. “Make sure you’re hidden from view from the gate. I doubt if anyone will walk by, but if they do just try to look relaxed and tell them you’re waiting for me.”
Richard stood and waited, remembering Tucker’s parting comment when they first met: “you make any trouble – any trouble at all…”
To his relief, no-one passed by his hiding place, and after about fifteen minutes he heard footsteps and voices echoing in the direction they’d originally come.
“So where is he?” Richard recognized Doyle’s voice.
“You were right,” he heard Carrie say. “I shouldn’t have trusted him.”
He heard Doyle again, “There’s no way he could get inside. That gate would hold back an elephant, and I’ve got the only key.”
“I don’t know,” said Carrie’s voice. “He’s some kind of intellectual type – a College professor or something – maybe he knows how to pick locks.”
“I should’ve known,” said Doyle. “Maybe you’ll listen to me next time. We should’ve killed him while we had the chance. Even if he got in and got ahold of a motorbike, I don’t see how he could get out of here.”
Their footsteps stopped no more than a few yards from where Richard stood.
“You were right,” said Carrie’s voice. “I should have listened to you. I’m sorry.”
There were a few seconds of silence.
“I missed you…” said Carrie’s voice. Richard heard the rustling of hands on clothing and Carrie moaned softly.
“I knew you couldn’t stay away from me forever baby,” said Doyle. Richard could hear his heavy breathing.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a scuffle. “What the fuck’s goin’ on here?” said Doyle’s voice.
“Shut up and put your hands in the air,” said Carrie’s. “Now, Richard!” she yelled.
Richard rushed from his hiding place to find Carrie and Doyle standing by the gate. She held a gun trained on Doyle.
“You double-crossing bitch!” said Doyle.
“There’s a set of keys on his belt,” she said. “The gate key is the big, square brass one with the green tape on it.”
Richard reached for the keys. Doyle reacted and started to lower his right arm.
“Get ‘em up,” said Carrie. She thrust the gun forward and waved it in his face.
“You haven’t got the balls to kill me.”
“Try me,” said Carrie. She cocked the hammer of the gun.
Richard found the key and opened the gate.
“Get in,” Carrie said to Doyle, and she pushed him roughly through the gate. She nodded toward the bicycles. “I like the pink one,” she said to Richard, suddenly smiling demurely. “The one with the white handle grips. You take the dark blue one. It’s pretty sturdy.”
“You’re gonna pay for this,” said Doyle.
“I thought I told you to shut up,” she said.
Richard picked out the bikes Carrie had described and wheeled them back to where she stood guard over her captive. They backed out of the gate, and Carrie held the gun on Doyle while Richard locked it.
“Here, let’s see,” she said holding out her hand.
Richard handed her the set of keys and she handed him the gun.
“You can keep that,” she said. “I happen to know he’s got another one.”
“Bitch!” said Doyle.
Richard pointed the gun at Doyle while Carrie fiddled with the keys. Doyle snarled and made a move toward the mesh barrier. Richard snarled back and trained the gun at Doyle’s head. He backed away.
Carrie removed the brass gate key from the chain.
“We’ll be leaving now,” she said, still smiling. She kept the key to the gate and tossed the rest through the mesh. They landed at Doyle’s feet.
“Have a nice day,” she said as they walked away.
“Get back here you whore!” spat Doyle, throwing his body heavily against the steel mesh. “You and your boyfriend will be dead meat when I get finished with you!”
Carrie took the pink bike and they retraced their route across the building, headed for the entrance. She found Billy again.
“Billy,” she said, “I have a very important job for you. We have to leave now. As soon as you see us go through the entrance, I need you to take this key to the warehouse.”