All That I See - 02 (30 page)

I went out to her.

“I want that pistol,” I said. “It’s mine.”

“It’s hers,” she said. “That’s right, isn’t it?”

“I need it more than she does,” I said.

Ellen
tossed the glowing cigarette butt on the ground and stepped on it. “I think she needs it more.”

I could see that I wouldn’t be getting the gun unless I took it by force.

“Clayfield is clear,” I said, changing the subject and trying to sound friendly.

“So?”

“So it’s not overrun like they said.”

“I never believed what they said,” she replied.

“You are more than welcome to come in with Mr. Somerville and me,” I said.

“No thanks.”

“You won’t make it on your own,” I said.

“Then I won’t make it,” she said, sounding irritated. “Excuse me. I’m going to bed.”

She walked past me to her apartment. I watched her go inside and shut the door then I remembered why I was out there—Dr. Barr’s booze. I went over and knocked on the door.
Ellen
opened it and glared at me.

“What?”

“The doctor wants me to get a bottle for him. Bern needs to drink something.”

She sidestepped so I could come in. “Bern? That’s her name?”

“Short for Bernice,” I said. “Where’s the bottle?”

“On the counter in the kitchen.”

The apartment was identical to the one next door, only mirrored. I went to the counter. There were three bottles there. I grabbed one.

“Not that one,” she said. “That’s my port. I like port. Take the whisky.”

I put the bottle down and picked up another.

“Old Crow,’ I said, reading the label. “Wow. I didn’t know they still made this.”

“Nobody is making anything anymore,” she said.

I held up the bottle to show her. “My grandfather used to drink this stuff.”

She nodded but didn’t say anything. She looked tired and sad.

“Had you always lived in Clayfield?” I asked, trying to be friendly again.

“Yes,” I was surprised that she answered.

“Me too,” I said. “Well, except for my college years.”

She nodded again.

“Where will you go?”

She shrugged, “I just want to go home and be left alone for a while.”

This time it was me that nodded. It sounded perfect.

“But,” she continued, “I don’t think there is any future there. I’ll be heading north like everyone else…try to find civilization again.”

“I think we’re it,” I said. “Mr. Somerville is really optimistic about us making a life for ourselves in Clayfield. I think if anyone can get the people to work together, it would be him.”

She laughed, “No offense to the councilman, but I don’t believe that for a second. Don’t get me wrong, I voted for the man—I liked him a lot—but he’s got enemies, too. There are people like Willy and Nathan who don’t think too much of him. Or didn’t you notice?”

“Now that the bad element has left town, we—“

“Bad element?” she laughed again. “
You
were the bad element.”

I stepped from behind the counter, “
Me
? I’m not the one raping you, am I?”

She winced when I said the word. I came closer to her.

“I know it might not be the best word to define your situation, but you’ve certainly been coerced.”

“What about that young girl you’ve been with?” she said accusingly.

“For one thing, she’s twenty years old,” I said. “For another we’ve never—“

Dr. Barr opened the door. He looked back and forth between us.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing,”
Ellen
said. “Just talking.”

“About what?”

Ellen
was about to speak, but I spoke up first.

“She was telling me not to take the port,” I said.

He stared at her as if trying to read her, “Yeah,” he said absently. “Better not touch her port.” Then he looked over at me and with a stern expression said, “Better not touch
any
of her ports.”

There was a thick silence in the room.
Ellen
looked down at her feet, embarrassed. I pretended to read the label on the bottle. The doctor broke the silence with laughter.

“Come on,” he said, winking at me. “Our new friend needs a drink.”

I followed Dr. Barr, and
Ellen
shut the door behind us. The doctor
turned and faced me before we
rejoined Bern inside.

“This new girl seems healthy enough,” he said. “She’s not much to look at, and I don’t like that she’s already pregnant, but the situation is what it is.”

“Couldn’t be helped,” I said.

“I’ll still take her,” he shrugged and turned to open the door.

I put my hand on his shoulder, “What does that mean?”

“It means hands off. She’s mine,” he said, looking me in the eye. “Hands off
me
, too.”

I took my hand from his shoulder, “I think you spent too much time with Nathan and Willy.”

He turned around again to face me. He pulled his shirt aside so I’d be sure to see the gun.

“In nature, the strongest male beds the females,” he grinned. “It was like that before, too, but now men don’t have to spend all night peacocking in a club trying to talk some bitch into coming home with them.”

“When did the handsome doctor ever have to do that?” I said.

“I’m speaking about men in general,” he said. “Men like Nathan and Willy…and you. I can have whomever I want whenever I want.”

“What was with the nice guy routine back at the high school?”

“No routine,” he said. “I’m a nice guy. I just don’t think trying to get laid should be so much work. I’m sure it was harder work for you, so you should appreciate our position. In the process we are insuring the continuance of humanity. You should enjoy it….but not with my women. You’ll have to get your own.”

I didn’t care for
Ellen
or Bern at all. If I needed to, I could have walked away from them and never thought about them again. Living in this new world had made me callous like that. But I remembered how much Jen and Sara had liked Dr. Barr when they met him. Given the opportunity, he would have smooth-talked his way into their pants, or forced his way in, if it became necessary. It pissed me off.

“You smarmy piece of shit,” I said.

“Excuse me?”

“You piece of shit,” I repeated.

“I’m not going—“

I punched him right in the teeth. It wasn’t hard—just a quick jab—but it did the job. He dropped to his knees, both hands over his mouth. I punched him again in the side of the head, because I was still mad. He fell on his side. I straddled him and pulled the pistol from his pants.

“Don’t hurt me,” he said. “I’m the only doctor around. You need me.”

I stood and opened the door. “Go be a doctor, then,” I said.

He stayed there, curled up on the sidewalk.

“Now, dammit,” I said.

He got to his hands and knees, crawled into the room, then over next to Bern. I checked the pistol to see if it was loaded. It had five
rounds in the magazine. I put it in
the front of my pants and started to walk inside when I noticed
Ellen
standing in her doorway. She was holding her shotgun.

“Are you going to use that on me?” I said.

She didn’t answer. She just turned and went back into her apartment and shut the door.

I went in my apartment and closed the door. Dr. Barr wouldn’t look at me.

“Have you two been fighting?” Bern asked, propping herself up on her elbows.

We didn’t reply.

“Were you fighting over me?”

“No,” I said.

“There’s enough of me to go around,” she said.

I rolled my eyes and went to check on Mr. Somerville.

I was surprised to find him awake.

“What’s going
on?” he said. His voice was wea
k.

“Nothing much,” I said. “How are you doing?”

“I’m tired. How long?”

“It’s been days since the warehouse,” I said.

“Where’d all this getup come from?” he said nodding up to the I.V. bag.

“Hospital,” I said.

“Clayfield?”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s not overrun like they said. I don’t know what’s going on.”

He took a deep breath, and I thought he’d fallen back to sleep. I was about to leave when he spoke again.

“What about Judy?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m hoping she and Sara are together. Maybe they’ve started the garden.”

He laughed a little then coughed, “Maybe.”

“I picked up a new woman,” I said. “The doctor is looking at her now.”

He grunted a reply.

“You sleep,” I said. “It’s still the middle of the night.”

He grunted again.

When I came back into the living room, Bern was still on the mattress in the floor, but the doctor was gone. She had a big white bandage on her face and another wrapped around her arm.

“Where is he?” I said.

“He said he was going to bed.”

I nodded and went over to get on the couch.

“You don’t have to go all the way over there,” she said. “There’s plenty of room down here with me.”

“I’m really tired,” I said.

“So was the doctor.”

Just to be sure Travis wouldn’t try to retaliate while I was sleeping, I locked the front door and propped a chair under the knob. I returned to the couch.

“Goodnight, Bern,” I said and blew out the candle.

Chapter 36

I opened my eyes just as the early morning sun was starting to filter in through the curtains. There was enough light in the room that I could see, but just barely. I didn’t know why I had woken up. I hadn’t slept very long.

I looked around the room for a moment without moving. Bern was up. She was standing by the window.

“Bern, are you okay?”

She looked at me when I spoke but didn’t reply. I sat up, and she turned to face me. There was something about her posture that told me she was infected. I pulled the pistol.

“Bern?”

She hissed at me. I didn’t hesitate. I put her down quickly. The odd thing was that I didn’t feel anything. I don’t even think my heart rate increased. I didn’t even fully come out of the haze of sleep. I just woke up, killed somebody, and that was it—no more exciting than getting up in the night to take a piss.

I heard a noise from the bedroom, so I went to check on Mr. Somerville. He was trying to sit up.

“It’s okay,” I said. “The new girl was sick so I shot her.”

He paused then lay back on his pillow.

“You alright?” he said.

“Yeah,” I said, almost in a whisper.

I returned to the living room expecting
Ellen
and Travis to come pounding on my door, but they didn’t. He knew it would happen, or at least hoped it would. He hadn’t given her anything to drink, and she’d succumbed to the virus. That was his retaliation.

“Asshole,” I said.

I pulled the chair away from the front door, unlocked it, and went out into the cool, morning air. I didn’t bother knocking on their door; I just went in. They weren’t inside. Their bags and supplies were still inside. I went back out and walked down to the office. I didn’t find them there either. The truck was still parked in the front, so I walked around the building to check on the spare vehicle. It was still there, too.

“Odd,” I said to myself. I couldn’t imagine them leaving on foot. We hadn’t seen any infected out there since we arrived, but that didn’t mean it was safe to venture out without a car. I decided to go back to their apartment to see if they had left a note. I doubted they would have since neither really liked me very much.

As I rounded the corner of the building, I looked down the road. There was something there on the center line. It looked like a dead body, but it was too far away to say for sure. I knew it hadn’t been there when I went out to dig the garlic.

Before going to investigate, I went back inside to remove Bern’s body. I felt sorry for the girl, but I tried not to think too much about it. I put a towel over her face so I wouldn’t have to look at her. I dragged her outside and into the apartment next door, shutting her up inside.

Then I checked my weapon and started walking. I didn’t take the truck, because I didn’t want to make any unnecessary noise I had to walk about 300 yards. There were spots of blood leading up to it. As I got closer, I could tell that it was definitely a body. It was naked and face down. When I saw the dark hair and that the body did not look decomposed, I had a feeling it was
Ellen
.