What Little Remains (The Fallout Trilogy Book 1) (2 page)

I open the door to Nicole’s smug face. Her ruby red hair is
pulled back into a messy bun. She’s wearing a black tank top and dark jean
shorts. She’s five-foot-ten, and her skin is dusted with light freckles. Her
green eyes always have a wicked gleam in them, and today is no exception.

“Hope I didn’t interrupt anything good,”
Nic
says, her eyes look behind me at a shirtless Ricky before I manage to close the
door.
 

She might not like Ricky, but she doesn’t discriminate when
it comes to beautiful things.

“Even if you did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

When Nicole smiles, it is easy to see why she’d cause
trouble. Nicole is the type of beautiful that should be on the cover of a
fashion magazine. She knows it. She doesn’t talk about her past, but from what
I can guess, she used to be a model.

“Charlie,” a voice calls from behind us as we get
close to the bunker. “Nicole. Fancy seeing you all here.”

Jogging up from behind me, Alec catches up and
slows down to my pace. Having just come back from the mission, I didn’t expect
to see him out and about. I’m about to ask if John or Daren needs me when I
realize he isn’t even looking at me. The determination in the look he is giving
Nicole makes it clear that he didn’t come here for me.

Alec arrived at Fort Lee a little after Ricky and I
did. He’s tall, well over six feet, but lean. He is built like a runner. His
friendly blue eyes that go well with his platinum blond hair, and they sit very
nicely on a round, but handsome face. He is the one who found Nicole and
carried her all the way here.

“Hey,” I say, elbowing Nicole in the side. I don’t
keep a running list of her admirers, but she normally tells me about all of
them. The look on Alec’s face tells me that she forgot to mention one.

“You ladies going to clean up the mess in the
kitchen?” Alec asks.

“Of course; someone has to do it,” I say.

“I’ll help carry dishes,” he offers, flashing
Nicole a lazy smile.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on duty?” Nicole asks,
raising her eyebrows.

“Ricky gave us the night off,” Alec says, grinning
at her. “But if you don’t want my help…”

“We’ll take it,” I say, smiling at Nicole as she
glowers at me.

“Lead the way,” Alec says, mocking her with a
bow.
 

“Actually, I already had someone put the dishes by
the river for us,” she says, smiling sweetly. “But thanks for the offer.”

Alec nods his head like he was expecting that. To
my surprise he doesn’t push. “You know where I am if you need me.”

He saunters away like he knows we are watching him.
I wait until he’s out of earshot before smacking
Nic’s
arm.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask, as we start
walking out towards the north gate.

“Tell you what?”
Nic
asks
coyly.

“That there was something going on between you two.
Don’t bother lying to me. It’s obvious.”

The guards on duty watch us as we pass, not saying
anything. Normally, people aren’t supposed to leave the compound this late.
That rule is relaxed with me, especially when I’m doing these nighttime chores.
My relationship with Ricky is public, allowing me a few special privileges.
Unless he tells the guards that there is something I can’t do, they don’t
question me. Nicole is a different story. She still gets her way, but she does
it by flirting, intimidating, or by playing dumb.

“I thought we might’ve had something, but I was
wrong,” she says. “I don’t care.”

“He doesn’t seem like he’s going to back out that
easily,” I say, grinning.

Nicole has fiercely protected her heart since she
arrived. I’m the only person that she let in. She never lets herself go beyond
flirting or first base. I don’t press her to talk about her past, but something
bad must have happened to her.

It only takes ten minutes to walk to where we clean
the dishes. There are two rivers that run on either side of the camp. The
cleaner one, the one where we wash clothing, dishes, and ourselves, is out of
the north gate. The other river is outside of the south wall and is where our
basic little sewer system drains.

I sit on the dirt, next to the water, pulling out a
rag. Now, the real fun begins.

“Whatever,” she says, pushing her hair out of her
face before settling next to me. She took her time responding to me. “I didn’t
like him. I was just having fun.”

“I’m not judging,” I say. “You know I don’t. As
long as you’re happy, I’m happy for you. I’m just thinking about how awkward
it’ll be after you date the entire military force.”

“Hey now,” Nicole says, splashing water at me. “I
have standards.”

I laugh harder, splashing water back at her. “Yeah,
male and breathing.”

She scoops water up in a bowl she’s cleaning and
tosses it at me. It soaks through my shirt, seeping into my bra. I laugh even
harder, splashing her even harder.

“Come on, we need to finish here,” I laugh.

We continue scrubbing, giggling whenever we look at
each other.

“So I noticed Ricky didn’t come back with
supplies,” she says, trying to sound casual. “And they were one short.”

I hesitate, looking around. “They were ambushed.
Brian didn’t make it back.”

Nicole drops the plate with a splash.

“Wow,” she says, leaning back on her heals.
“Everyone else okay?”

I nod my head. “A little banged up, but somehow
they managed to get away. They’re going to go back out soon.”

“Interesting,” she says.

“What?” I ask.

That tone of voice is usually followed by her
suggesting trouble and sometimes ends with me getting dragged into doing
something that I don’t want to do.

“Nothing. I was just thinking about having some
fun,” she says.

That look coming into her eyes worries me. I don’t
ask; she’ll tell me her evil plans when she is ready to.

Eventually we finish scrubbing the dishes. I don’t
complain, but my hands are sore. I fill the jugs that we brought with clean
river water. We treat the water back in the kitchens to kill the germs so that
people have drinking water in the morning. Having a few boy scouts around is
handy when the entire world comes crashing down.

“You just want to carry this?” I ask her.

“I don’t care,” she says, her shirt sticking to her
skin.

We each grab a crate of dishes and two jugs of
water. The plates are a mix of plastic and Pyrex. Both are light, easy to
stack, and clean.
 

When I first got here, cooking was one of the only
things that allowed me time to think. I was the only one who wanted to, and I
could cook well. There was only a short period of time where I stopped cooking.
It was after Ricky told me he found my little brother Danny’s body.

It was the worst day of my life. It happened five
months ago. He had just come back from a trip. Daren, Jack, and Ricky went back
to Appleheart to see what they could find. He went looking for other survivors
and supplies. We couldn’t stay to look for Danny after the storms because I was
badly injured. I needed medical attention beyond what Ricky could offer. A
piece of wood sliced the upper part of my thigh. I barely held on until we made
it to Fort Lee. We had to leave, but Ricky left a message in Appleheart in case
there were survivors we didn’t know about telling them that we would be at Fort
Lee.

I was helping with the kids, occupying them while
their parents were working. They had been building cabins and constructing the
wall that surrounds the camp. I saw Ricky walk in and ask one of the other
women to watch the kids while I talked to him.

“Charlie,”
he says, not meeting my eyes. “Can you talk?”

“Yes.”

I
follow him out of the main barracks, and he leads me back to his house.
 
Our house. I just moved in so that
someone else could use the cabin I was staying in.

He
shut the door and turns to face me. That’s when I noticed that his eyes are
red-rimmed, and his face has no color in it. “Charlie, I
 
. . . I found him.”

There
is no need for clarification. I know exactly
who
he is
talking about.
The one person in my life whose whereabouts
are unknown.
“Oh my God! Where is he? How is he?” I ask excitedly.

Ricky
holds his hands up, his eyes turning glassy. “We found his body.”

“No,”
I gasp, backing away from him. All of the hope that I had been holding onto,
that I still had some family in this world, is gone. I gasp again, my lungs
struggling to find air to breathe. My sight goes blurry, and I can’t focus on
anything.

“There
was nothing we could do. He was gone—.”

“NO,”
I scream, crumbling forward. “NO! DANNY! God NO!”

“I’m
so sorry. It’s going to be okay,” Ricky says, his arms going around me, pulling
me against his body.

“I
want to see him. I need to see him,” I say, grasping at Ricky’s t-shirt trying
to push myself out of his arms. “How do you know that it really is him?”

He
pulls out a baseball hat from his pocket, one from the science center that
Danny has worn since he was six.

“This
was with
—
with the body,” Ricky says, holding it out to me.

I
take it in my hands, stepping away from Ricky. “I have to see him.”

“You
aren’t going to do that to yourself. You need to remember him as he was, not
what he looks like now.”

That moment haunts me every day. Danny is always on
my mind. Some days are easier than others. Some days I can put the sadness
behind me. Other days, it’s harder. The pain and the guilt are so overwhelming
that it swallows me. We left Appleheart because I was injured. There is no way
of knowing when Danny died, but I can’t help but blame myself. If we had stayed
and just looked, maybe we could have found him. Maybe he wouldn’t be dead.

Nicole’s laughter brings me back to the present.
She’s drawn the attention of the guards, and I see them nudge each other, their
eyes on us as we walk in. Nicole demands attention, while I’m happy just
passing through not drawing any attention.
 

We make our way down to the bunker. It isn’t much.
There are five rooms. Two small rooms on either side of the hallway and a
larger one at the end of that we use as a kitchen. The other two are used for
fuel and food storage. There are ten steps leading down into the
fluorescently-lit
hallway and the crates start to strain my
arms as I get to the kitchen. I put them on the table and she does the same.

Stretching out my arms, I let out a big yawn. I
have trouble sleeping when Ricky isn’t here. Last night was no exception. Part
of me believes that as long as I am up worrying about him, he will come home to
me.

“Charlie, go home,” she says, smiling. “I can clean
up here.”

“No,” I say, fighting another yawn. “You cooked so
I could wait for Ricky. I don’t mind helping.”

“It’s okay. Really,” she says, pulling out a couple
pots and pouring the water into them. “All I have to do now is boil the water
for tomorrow.”

“Are you sure?”

“Seriously,” she says, glancing up at me. “If you
don’t leave now, I’ll take back the offer.”

“Okay,” I say, getting up before she can change her
mind. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She smiles and starts to pour the water into the
pots. I head out slowly. I don’t want to go home, but I’m exhausted. I hesitate
at the top of the stairs, taking in a deep breath of the night air. I can’t be
this selfish. I promised her that I would help with this. I can’t just bail
because I am tired.
 

I go back down the stairs. Ten feet from the
kitchen I stop, realizing that
Nic
is not alone. She
is propped up on the table where I eat. Her legs are wrapped around Alec’s bare
torso. I’m not sure where he came from, but it would definitely seem that
Nicole is completely okay with the fact that I left. I back away slowly, seeing
more of them than I ever wanted to see. They don’t waste any time, and, before
I can turn around, another piece of clothing hits the floor.

I head back up the stairs, shaking my head. I make
my way back to the cabin.

Opening the door, I see that Ricky and Daren are
talking quietly. Four empty glasses are on the table. The aroma of alcohol is
in the air.