The girl was broken from her reverie by a tearing screech followed by a blaring honk. She jumped, pulling out her earbuds and looked around.
"Goodness John, you almost ran the poor girl over!" she heard behind her.
The girl turned and saw a rather decrepit looking light blue car. A man and a woman both wrapped heavily in bandages and wearing surgical masks got out of the vehicle.
"You doing alright there kid?" asked the bespectacled young man. He wore a long medical whitecoat that was stained at the hems. His face was almost completely covered by his mask and bandages, but kindly light brown eyes peered out from beneath golden horn rimmed glasses.
"Of course she's not fine! You damned near mowed her right over!" said the young woman next to him with a faint rasp in her speech. Her face was also wrapped in bandages with only one pale green eye revealed to give the man a reproachful look. She wore a long sleeved dark blue uniform with the letters "EMS" emblazoned on her left breast. She also had a surgical cap to cover her dark hair which was starting to poke out in odd places.
They both wore surgical gloves tucked over their sleeves.
The man began to approach the girl but then hesitated for a moment before standing back. "You alright there? Need any help?"
The girl regarded them both cautiously. Her parents had told her to avoid contact with others for fear they might be infected or might try to harm her.
"Where are your parents?" asked the woman while trying to tuck stray strands of hair into her cap. "Why are you just standing there in the middle of the road?"
"M-my parents." the girl's mouth felt weird having spent a month without anyone to talk to. She cleared her throat. "They left a while ago to go get food. I ran out at home so I came to look for some by myself."
"Oh ok..." the woman paused, then asked rather carefully, "How long have your parents been gone?"
"Oh about a month." the girl responded. Then she added quickly, "But don't worry, they'll be back soon, they promised."
The man and woman exchanged glances.
"A month! Uhh... I'm not sure that–" the man started before the woman cut him off.
"Are you ok?" said the woman quickly. “I mean you’ve been alone for a month!”
The girl shrugged her shoulders and looked to the side. “I’ve been doing ok I guess.”
“Do you need any help though?” said the woman with concern in her voice. “I mean its pretty dangerous around here for a girl to be wandering around alone.”
The girl looked a bit defensive, “I’m doing alright, I mean I have some food now.”
The woman looked at her for a moment, then sighed. "Well would you like to come with us? We've got plenty of food and water.”
The man added, “More than the two of us can eat." He raised his eyebrows at the girl.
The girl looked at the two of them carefully “I don’t know. My parents said not to trust anyone.”
“Hmm that’s a good rule to follow to be honest.” said the man. “How about this, you don’t have to come with us but we’ve got some food. Take some home with you.”
He bent down reaching for something near the driver seat; the girl heard a thunk and the trunk popped open. She wondered how he did that. “By the way, my name’s John, this is Emily” he gestured in the direction of the woman who responded with a little wave.
“How does your car still work?” the girl blurted out. “I thought all the electricity ran out a month ago.”
“I’m glad you asked, little lady.” he patted the discolored hood of the car. “You see this baby is an old, old car. From before everything went electric. It’s a hybrid so it can run on gasoline as well as electricity. It’s been in my family for generations. In fact–”
“Oh My God John. Is now the time for this?” groaned Emily, palming her forehead. She gave the girl a sideways glance. “Don’t ask him about the car. Just please don’t.”
“Alright, alright.” the bespectacled man moved to the back of the car and beckoned the girl over. “Here’s some boxes of emergency rations. We’re from the hospital, you see, managed to grab a bunch before it shut down.”
The girl moved closer causing the man to recoil suddenly.
“Uhp hold on! Not too close.” the man stepped to the side, away from the girl. “We’re… uh germaphobes you see. Especially nowadays, can’t be too careful.”
“Is that why you’re all wrapped up and stuff?” asked the girl.
John and Emily exchanged glances again.
“Something like that.” said John with a wave of his hand.
“Whoa! You weren’t kidding! That’s a ton of food.” the girl exclaimed. The trunk of the car was filled to the brim with brown plastic sealed packages labeled “Emergency Rations”.
“Yup, for a lot of them though, you have to add water.” said John.
“We’ve got some water in the back seat if you want.” offered Emily.
“Oh that’s ok.” replied the girl, “I’ve got a lot of water at home.” She looked at the food uncertainly, unsure how much she was allowed to take.
Sensing her hesitation, John remarked, “Go right ahead, take however much you want. I just don’t want to get too close to you.”
The girl grabbed a package that had “1 month supply” written on it. Despite its rather small size, it was quite heavy.
“Oof.” She put the bag on the ground. John moved forward as if to help her but then stopped and pulled himself back.
Emily asked, “Are you sure you’re ok walking back to your house? If it's far… I mean it’s up to you, we could give you a ride?”
The girl was feeling pretty tired. She crouched down on the floor next to the month supply of rations and thought for a moment.
Careful, careful… friends… but… danger. the voice muttered almost incomprehensibly in her ear. There is danger…
Friends, she thought. That sounds nice…
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
“Sure, I live on Golden Spring Ave, just over the bridge there.” she replied, gesturing back toward the sunset.
The two adults looked delighted.
“Alright then, sure beats walking around in the sun eh?” said John as he moved to the front.
The girl closed the trunk and brought the ration pack around. She got into the back seat on her own (John said he’d wipe down the handle later) and found herself next to a stack of water bottle pallets. The back and front seats were sectioned off by a flimsy plastic barrier.
“We all ready?” asked John as he settled into the driver’s seat. “Oh make sure your seatbelt is on.” He gave the girl a bit of a smile through the rearview mirror. Or it looked like a smile, he still had his mask on. “Safety first!”
“mhmmm… Says the man driving a centuries old car that could explode at any moment.” said Emily, clicking her own seatbelt into place. “I guess better safe than sorry, gives us one less thing to die from.”
“Oh don’t listen to her. This car may be old, but it runs smooth as butter.” The car sputtered a little then hummed to life. “Alright where to?”
“John, you’ve lived here for the last 6 years of your life and you still don’t know where the Millennium Bridge is?” asked the woman with an exasperated sigh. “How did you ever become a doctor?”
“Hey, I’m just not used to this part of town ok?” the man craned his neck around, looking around for signs.
“It’s that way.” said Emily in a deadpan voice. Suddenly she coughed, small but rasping. This was followed by a few more before clearing her throat. “Excuse me.”
“Off we go then!” said John without missing a beat. The car made a u-turn, then paused at the traffic light, and then they were gone.
***
The car ride was short, much shorter than the walk earlier that day. That long hopeful walk felt like a lifetime ago to the girl. Now as they pulled up at her house she could see the familiar light gray minivan parked out in front. They would often go on road trips on it, either with cousins or sometimes invite a friend or two on weekend trips. They would always bring tons of snacks along too and sing in the car. Surprisingly, her dad would always sing the loudest and it always embarrassed her so much. Those were nice fun times, maybe they could go again sometime, when this was all over.
As she got out of the car, she couldn’t help but think that maybe her parents had returned. Would they be happy that she managed to get a whole month of food? They would probably be worried that she left. They might be mad that she brought strangers to their house though, but these guys were pretty friendly. Maybe they could all live together.
John opened the trunk again and let her take another package. “However many you can carry, little missy.”
She struggled with the food as John said he couldn’t touch it due to health concerns, but overall she was pretty happy. Her parents would probably be so proud of her. Then, she could maybe convince them to leave now that they had a vehicle. John and Emily were nice people, they were sure to let them come. They could go down south with everyone else and wait somewhere for all of this to be over.
The girl fumbled with her keys for a moment, she wasn’t used to physical keys, they had all been electronic before. She opened the door.
“Mom? Dad? I’m home!”
Silence.
She plodded in, dragging the two ration packs behind her. Maybe they didn’t hear her.
Then she noticed the note she had left on the dresser.
It hadn’t been touched.
It was too much for her. Her legs gave out from beneath her and she sank to the ground, heart heavy. She shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up, she knew. But she just missed her parents so much. The emotions rolled over her like tired waves in a silent heavy storm. She wanted the waves to just take her away, away from all this, to wash her into the darkness.
“A-Are you alright?” came a soft voice from behind her.
It was John. He was standing on the doorstep looking a bit unsure whether or not he should come in.
The girl sniffled and quickly wiped her eyes. “I’m ok. J-just tired is all.”
“Oh.” said John, “Uhm… say… if your parents still aren’t home do you want to… eh… come with me and Emily? We found a pretty good spot we could put you up in if you want.”
The girl turned to look at the man, eyes still red from tears. The man’s heart twinged with sympathy. He wanted to comfort and hug her… but he knew he couldn’t.
“I-I don’t know…”the girl said, looking at the ground. “What if my parents can’t find me? A-also I don’t really know you guys.” She looked up and raised her hands in a defensive gesture. “No offense or anything.”
“None taken, little lady.” the doctor said, eyes creasing kindly with his smile. “It's up to you, no pressure.”
The girl thought for a moment. The voice was silent. She reached into her hoodie pocket feeling around the familiar smooth edges of the palm sized disc. She pulled it out, a silvery glint in her hand.
“Oh is that a coin?” John said, mildly surprised, “Haven’t seen one of those in… well in a few decades at least.”
“Heads I go, tails I stay.” she looked at him as if looking for approval. “...Ok?”
“Sure thing, whatever you decide, little lady.”
She flipped the coin into the air with a little ting! They both stared, watching it as it spun. It landed flat on her palm.
Heads.
They both let out an involuntary sigh of relief. They looked at each other and laughed. The girl guessed, deep down she really wanted to go with them.
“What are you two giggling about in here?” Emily stepped into view looking mildly bemused.
“Oh we’re just having a little party without you.” replied John.
“Hmm well unless you want to stay here overnight, you’d better wrap that party up fast. It’s getting dark out.” said Emily with a raised eyebrow.
The city was actually quite dangerous to drive around in at night. Without streetlights, the various crashed cars and obstacles on the road became twice as difficult to see.
“You guys could stay here for the night.” said the girl, almost hopefully.
“Uhm… We’d love to but y’know how we are about that stuff.” John said with a laugh. “We don’t like to stay anywhere we don’t know about for sure. Who knows what’s been going on in here?”
“Hey! My house isn’t THAT dirty.” the girl said rather defensively.
“I’m sorry but that’s just how it is.” said the man. “C’mon we’ve got a really cool place for you to stay.”
The girl sighed. “Alright then.”
She dragged the two food packs back to the car. It annoyed her that they wouldn’t touch anything she might touch. It all felt a bit over the top; being germaphobes must be such a pain. After packing everything back into their car, she left a note telling her parents where she would be going. Apparently most of the hotels in the area were largely cleared out since everyone had left. She would be staying at one of the fanciest ones. Truthfully speaking, she was getting rather excited at the prospect.
“Hey look, an aloe vera plant.” Emily said, pointing at a spiky succulent plant sitting in the shade of the building complex.
“What?” asked John, taken aback at the complete randomness of the observation.
“It’s an aloe vera plant, that’s pretty cool.” she responded matter-of-factly.
“It IS pretty cool”, said the girl as she shrugged off her backpack and placed it in the back seat. “We planted it a couple years ago. His name is Gerald.”
“Huh…” said the woman, “I’ve always been pretty fond of succulent plants.”
“Oh yeah, Gerald had a bunch of babies too.” the girl explained, “But we replanted those in the back.”
She paused for a moment, contemplating.
“Do you want to go get one?” asked Emily, eyeing her with an amused expression.
“Yes!” the girl responded almost immediately. She disappeared back into the house.
“Aren’t we supposed to be in a hurry?” asked John.
“She might never see her home again.” said the woman, “That red wave is approaching pretty fast, and you know as well as I do that we’re now completely surrounded.”
“A fact that I try not to dwell too much on.” said John.
The girl returned carrying one potted aloe vera sproutling in each dirt dusted hand as well as another tucked in her hood bouncing around behind her. One for each of them.
By the time they started off the stars had begun to shine, sprinkling the sky above in a glittering canopy. A fat gibbous moon lit their way, but only for a short while. As they entered the city, the night sky became a glimmering sliver above them, sandwiched between the dark looming concrete behemoths that towered over them. There were a few near misses, requiring John to jerk them away from various tangled wreckages and even one bloody splattered form in the middle of the road. But eventually they made it. John carefully pulled into the small rotary shrouded in the murky shadow of a towering structure. The cylindrical structure was split down the middle into two half-cylinder towers. When the girl peered up, she could see the star speckled sky mirrored on its massive gleaming polished facade.
The girl breathed a sigh of nervous anticipation. They were here. The Wrynn Moran hotel.