“This is Alex, Sam, Hollis, and Becky,” said Brian as he pointed at his friends in turn, a pale slim boy with glasses, a chubby boy in a Star Wars T-shirt, a tanned surfer-type with a mop of yellow hair and a tall girl with long auburn hair, olive tunic, and denim tights. I had no problem picturing the group walking around a college campus.
“Y’all are welcome to chill with us for the night. We won’t bite if you don’t.” Hollis flashed a bright white grin. His thick Southern U.S. accent was the first I’d ever heard in person. It made me smile too and I dropped my bag to the ground.
“That’s what we wanted to hear.” Jonah set his bag down next to mine and sat down in the shade of the building’s ruined wall.
I sat down next to him. I put my hand on Jonah’s shoulder and offered him the rest of my water. He took the bottle and drained it in a few gulps. We had a tough twenty-four hours ahead.
Chapter 23
Gemma’s dorm stood peacefully in front of me with a dim lavender-grey early morning sky overhead. Only seconds passed before I saw a scruffy man in overalls with matted hair tied behind his neck carrying a tan laundry bag through the front door.
He had been substantially scrubbed clean, but it was Thorn nevertheless. He didn’t look kosher carrying the tied bag, but at this hour, nobody witnessed him except me. Thorn moved quickly into the parking lot and stopped at a large white van.
I concentrated on the back of the van. My perspective shifted. I slid forward through the air and turned to face the doors as Thorn opened them. Ivan and Tatiana were waiting in the back of the van which had several layers of blankets. Thorn heaved the bag into the back of the van and shut the door.
I had to focus harder, willing my mind to go through the steel doors. In a dark blink, I slipped inside the van with Ivan and Tatiana and the bag. Ivan loosened the drawstring at the top and wiggled the fabric down around a head. Gemma!
My sister fell forward, limp and unconscious. I heard the sound of the van’s driver and passenger side doors opening and closing. Thorn and my tattooed friend took seats behind the wheel and glove compartment respectively. The tattooed girl reached into the glove compartment and passed a small cork-stopped glass bottle of something milky-white to Ivan. He uncorked the bottle and tipped the milk into Gemma’s mouth.
“We should not be bothering with this girl,” said Tatiana.
“She is one of us,” said Ivan.
“She’s not yours by blood,” said Tatiana.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” said Ivan.
“I don’t care. She doesn’t have the capacity to interfere. Not like Irina,” said Tatiana.
“But, she knows about us. Her memory came back. She must have healed herself when Rubin died. Maybe she’s meant to join us. Only a healer could undo his work,” said Ivan.
I closed in on Gemma’s face, focusing only on her. The scene shimmered and I was transported to the kitchen space of a small, dark trailer. My feet felt unsteady. I looked to my right and saw an empty bench seat behind a dining table. On my left, past the wood paneled bathroom door, I could see a lump in the bed. I took a step towards the bunk and the sleeper rolled towards me. I mentally leaned in over the body. Gemma stayed unconscious. Vibration and the sound of tires crunching on gravel accompanied the scene. I imagined myself staring down on the moving trailer.
My perspective popped up through the roof and I watched a green pickup, the same pickup from Ivan’s campsite at the Golden Gate Park, pull the same trailer forward into the desert. I saw a small brown sign by the side of the road in the distance. I focused on the sign as though squinting in my mind’s eye and my mental self zoomed towards the sign. It read, Mojave Desert Joshua Tree Road Scenic Backway.
The sound of a siren wailing in the distance snapped me out of sleep. The glow of my tent walls meant the sun was up. I picked up my phone. It read 9:53 AM. My gut told me my sister slept in the trailer at this very moment, bumping her way down a gravel road somewhere in the Mojave Desert. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I grabbed my brush and ran it through my hair until I could pull it back into a ponytail neatly.
I was torn. I could continue picking through the rubble of San Francisco making my way to the Innoviro office to the south, or I could relate the vision of Gemma to Ilya and the others, making an argument for veering east to the Mojave. I had a spot on a map to go on now. If we tracked Ivan, we stood a chance of finding him before the sands of the desert erased any trace of him.
Based on what I knew, I conceded that Gemma would be safe, at least temporarily, with Ivan and Tatiana. If they were right and she had variant DNA, he would hang on to her and keep her alive if she didn’t give him too much trouble. The chance was slim, but Innoviro’s San Francisco office might still hold a treatment for Jonah.
I unzipped my tent and stepped outside to find the Berkeley students breaking up their end of the campsite. Ilya and Bruno were doing the same.
“What, were you guys going to let me sleep and leave me behind?” I said.
“Actually, you’ve got great timing. I was tellin’ your friend Bruno here that we’re headed in the same direction,” said Hollis. He looked identical to the day before, not the least bit disheveled from sleep. Next to Hollis, Brian’s one-time shaved head looked quite different without his cap.
“Really?” I said.
“Hollis and Brian heard of far less damage to the south side of the city,” said Bruno. The advantage of being as hairy as Bruno was that you looked the same whether you had just rolled out of bed or spent an hour grooming.
“That’s great news. We’re headed to Bay Farm Island. The company we work for has an office there.” I wanted to say as little as possible. I couldn’t work out whether having civilian companions would work for or against us. As long as Ilya stayed near Ralph and Adelaide, the Berkeley kids shouldn’t be a problem. I hoped.
“We were thinking of traveling together and pooling our resources,” said Brian as he scratched the back of his head.
“One more day of trekkin’ out of this wreckage should do it,” said Hollis.
“I think so too,” said Ilya.
Meadow appeared on the sidewalk carrying three stacked donut boxes. Her sculpted braid had transformed into a neat bun on top of her head, looking far too elegant for first thing in the morning.
“Hey guys. Guess what?” said Meadow.
“You found a bunch of Red Cross aid workers?” said Hollis.
“Better. I found a bakery around the corner and it wasn’t too badly damaged. I’ve got breakfast,” she answered with a broad smile.
“Sweet! You rule!” said Faith as she stepped out of her tent. Faith’s frizzy dreadlocks made me feel a little more composed in comparison.
Jonah and Nellie were next to come out, followed by cheerful bright-eyed students Alex, Sam and Becky. Weak as he was, Jonah’s tousled morning look always made for an endearing improvement on his normally manicured appearance. Nellie frowned, rubbed her eyes under her glasses, and made her way to Bruno’s side. Ralph and Adelaide came next, looking normal as ever. Within minutes of my waking, our entire group sat on camp chairs or the curb, ravenously eating stale donuts and muffins.
It struck me that our number counted mostly couples. Ilya and Faith, hip to hip on the curb. Nellie and Bruno in side-by-side camp chairs. Becky and Alex on the bumper of the latter’s SUV. Brian and Meadow leaning against their truck. Only Sam and Hollis were odd men out. I sat down next to Jonah, feeling very much ready for girlfriend status with the possibility of medication for him on the horizon. I smiled at him and he returned the gesture while we ate in silence.
We all finished our donuts quickly and took turns at Brian’s keg of wash water. Nobody wanted to waste bottled drinking water on hand washing. I couldn’t say anything about Jonah’s needs in front of our new friends.
“Are you sure there’s room for all of us to squeeze into these vehicles?” said Ilya to Brian.
“We’re going to have to put a few of you in the bed of my truck, but I don’t think anyone’s going to give us a ticket,” said Brian.
“Good point,” said Ilya. To the rest of us he asked, “Any volunteers for riding in the back of a pickup?”
“We’ll do it,” said Bruno with a wave.
“Us too then,” said Ralph, answering for Adelaide as well.
“That puts Faith and Ilya in the back of Alex and Becky’s Suburban. Irina and Jonah, you come with me and Sam,” said Hollis.
We drove single file slowly navigating heaves in the concrete and debris on the road. Our drive lasted about a quarter of an hour before Hollis’ sedan came to a stop behind the truck and SUV ahead.
“Is that what I think it is?” said Hollis.
“Dude, that’s one fucking big hole!” said Sam.
I peered out the car window, but I couldn’t see more than a black puddle in front of Brian’s truck. I got out of the car and walked towards it.
“Irina, it’s not safe! Get back here!” shouted Jonah.
I walked towards the black patch ahead, ignoring Jonah, watching the puddle turn into a canyon in the concrete. I stood in awe of a giant crack in the earth which stretched for miles in either direction, perfectly perpendicular to our path. We would have to back up and go around it.
While I contemplated the total distance of the canyon, a
CREEAAAAK
sound of tearing metal screeched at me from the other side. I saw half a basement visible near the surface, partially concealed by collapsed concrete. Debris tumbled forward into the giant pit.
Cracking, tapping rocks tumbling down to the canyon echoed ahead. I didn’t dare risk one more step forward.
“What in God’s name are you thinking?” Jonah grabbed my arm and yanked me backward.
“We’ll have to go around this. For miles.”
The rest of our group vacated their vehicles to stare with me down into the ground.
“Can anyone see a safe crossing on either side?” said Brian.
“I think it goes for about twenty blocks in either direction,” said Alex.
“We should go east to look for a crossing. Even if there is ground connecting south on the western side, anything closer to the ocean is less likely to be stable,” said Jonah.
“Should we go on at all? People will be getting evacuated sooner than later. If it’s this dangerous, we might want to think about staying put,” said Brian.
“Hangin’ worked out real well after Katrina,” said Hollis.
“That was different,” said Meadow.
“Why, because it was the South?” said Hollis.
“Don’t be like that,” said Becky.
“Listen, guys, I appreciate if this is getting too hairy for you, but we can’t afford to wait,” I said.
“What’s more important than staying alive?” said Meadow.
“Jonah needs medical treatment–from our office on Bay Farm Island,” I said.
“We don’t know for sure there’s anything there. I can’t ask people to risk their lives to get to that office,” said Jonah.
“It’s worth the risk!” I shouted. I forced myself to calm down and took a deep breath.
“We were on foot before, we can do it again,” said Ilya.
“Going around on foot will take days,” said Faith.
“Why don’t we be democratic and put it to a vote?” said Brian.
“All in favor of staying here?” said Ilya. Brian and Meadow raised their hands.
“All in favor of going on foot?” Ilya said wearily. I raised my hand. I looked around at each of my friends’ faces. Bruno and Faith eventually raised their hands.
“And all in favor of driving east?” Ilya said, with a hint of optimism in his voice. The rest of the group raised their hands. Democracy worked.
“Okay, who else has got a working GPS?” said Hollis.
Our convoy started heading east. We drove even more slowly. I wished for a moment I sat next to Ilya so I could ask him if everyone else radiated as much fear as me. I wanted to hold Jonah’s hand, but I couldn’t risk draining him, especially not with civilians in the front seats.
“It’s been almost two days now. Where’s the aid? Where’s the government? Why aren’t there choppers overhead lifting people out? Can’t the army swoop in and start helping?” said Sam to Hollis.
“Maybe they can’t get in here. Maybe there’s worse hit areas and that’s where they are. Sometimes it takes a few days for the people who help to get their shit together. Then again, maybe not enough people are willing to risk their lives right now,” said Hollis.
“We could still be in for another aftershock. Or two. Maybe ‘they’ are waiting on the proverbial dust to settle,” said Jonah.
“I feel bad saying this, but I’m glad we don’t live here. I wish we’d been able to–” I caught myself and stopped short. Hollis and Sam didn’t seem to notice. Jonah looked at me sympathetically.
“I know,” he said.
Hollis checked his GPS a few times as we followed Brian and Alex through the streets. We had to re-calibrate our path eastward several times to drive around blocked streets while staying parallel to the concrete canyon.
Brian’s truck pulled over next to a baseball field. In the ruin around us, the green lawn shone like a tropical oasis.
“I think we’re making camp again,” said Hollis as he parked too.
“I guess we’re not on a ticking clock as much as we were before,” I said quietly to Jonah.
“We don’t know what Ivan’s next stop will be,” said Jonah.
Hollis and Sam got out of the car leaving Jonah and me to talk.
“I still think he’s in the Mojave Desert. Correction, I know he is. And he’s got my sister with him,” I said.
“What? Then screw the Innoviro office. We can grab a car and head for the desert!” said Jonah.
“I think she’ll be safe. It sounds like she’s a variant as well, although she may not know it. Ivan won’t hurt her. Twisted as he is, he values variant lives,” I said.
“So you still want to go to Bay Farm Island, even on the tiny chance we’ll find a vial of something or a piece of paperwork or something on a disk?” said Jonah.
“Don’t you value your own life? I sure as hell do!” I said.
Jonah looked out the window thoughtfully. “We’ll get there faster if we stick to vehicles.”
“So if they want to make camp, we’ll make camp.” I got out of the car before Jonah could argue any more.