Anyone? (19 page)

But one thing had caught my eye, and as I stood there in the
hall, trying to steady my breathing, as I realized what it meant.
No way.

I lowered my gun and leaned my head against the wall,
thinking—something I told myself not to do.

After a few minutes, I stepped into the darkened room and
approached the double bed.

Sure enough, Cole’s stolen backpack leaned against the
footboard.

How was this even possible? Sure, the house was practically
the only upright building in the area, but really? Come on.

Though, I had to admit, knowing the occupant was the
mysterious boy from the mall and not some end-of-days weirdo seemed a blessing.
At least the boy and I had already developed some rapport. Still, the whole coincidence
seemed rather odd.

I could have grabbed the stolen backpack, headed to the
mall, and presented Cole with it.
Ah-ha, I told you so!
But I didn’t. I
had cut ties with him and decided it best to keep them severed. Knowing Cole,
he’d find a way to twist it all around and make me look like a lying fool
again.

Nope, I would not be going back. Good riddance.

Besides, I was curious about the skater boy, who he was and
what he knew. And more importantly, why was he still here?

I understood Cole’s reasoning—he was a giant jerk, after all
and liked stealing everyone’s left-behind belongings—but a boy, not much older
than me? Why hadn’t he left, searched for others?

The kid wasn’t here, not now, but at some point he would
return—he had a shelf full of Nutella,
hello?
—so I decided to take
advantage of the situation and help myself to some goodies. I ate most of one
jar, and then cracked open a can of chicken noodle soup and a bag of potato chips.

The kid had stolen Cole’s bag, so he had no right to
complain that I’d eaten some of his food. All was fair play. If he happened to
get mad, so be it. I still had a belly full of food I couldn’t return. Well, at
least not in the most pleasant of ways.

I was determined to stay awake, regardless of the exhaustion
clamping down on me, but after several hours slipped by without any sign of him,
I crawled onto the sagging couch and adjusted the decorative pillows under my
head. I placed my gun under the cushions for quick access, but trusted I wouldn’t
need it. The boy had told me that when we first met he had no plans to hurt me,
and I’d believed him.

I still believed him.

Maybe I should have been more afraid, been more prepared for
his return, but when Callie lay in the crook of my arm, and her warm little
body purred against mine, my eyes drooped shut.

The instant my eyes opened, shaking off sleep, I knew I wasn’t
alone.

I rolled my head to the side and sure enough, he sat across
from me on a chair with his long legs stretched out in front of him and his
dark eyes locked on mine. Tightness grew along my shoulder blades and my breath
became stilted. I pushed myself upward, trying to cram my body into the far
corner of the couch, but the plastic bands looped around my wrists and ankles hindered
my efforts. I nearly tumbled face-first to the floor.
What the—?

No, no, no!

I twisted my hands and kicked my legs, fighting against the
zip-tie restraints, but the hard plastic held tight, not budging an inch. My
struggling pulled them tighter, pinching my skin and digging into my tender
flesh. Even trying to bite them didn’t work.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He leaned forward in the chair,
his eyes still on mine. “I promise.”

The exact same words he’d spoken the day before. Somehow,
with my hands and ankles bound, I didn’t quite believe him like the first time.
I lifted my hands. “Then why do this?”

“Because I don’t know if you’re going to hurt me.” He cocked
a brow and lifted my small gun.

My gun! Holy crap!
I must have really been out of it
for him to bind me and take my gun from the couch cushions. I should have
prepared better. So dumb. Now here I was, practically hog-tied and at his
mercy.

“I’m not going to hurt you either,” I said, hoping to fix
this situation, and quick. “I’m a really,
really
nice person.” Not a
smart person, but nice and trusting, sure.

He looked at the gun for several minutes then turned his
attention to me. “Why the gun?”

I shifted on the couch with my bound feet on the floor and
my tied hands in my lap. “I don’t know. It makes me feel safer, I suppose. Also,
I’m a girl. I’m on my own. Everything is really crazy in the world right now,
if you haven’t noticed.”

He seemed to think about that for a moment before putting
the gun down on a side table. “But you followed me.”

“No!” I shook my head. “I didn’t. I swear! This happened to
be the only decent house in the area, but I had no idea you’d staked claim to
it. Honest.” This looked bad. Really bad.

His eyes narrowed and he raised his chin.

“I know, I know! I’d be skeptical too, but I’m telling the
truth. I had no idea which way you went after you left the mall. This is all a
giant misunderstanding, a fluke really, and believe me I’m just as surprised as
you are.”

“Where’s your friend?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I kind of left him at the mall.”

He leaned back in the chair. “Why would you do that?”

I brushed away a loose strand of hair falling over my eyes
and tickling my nose. Not an easy thing to do with bound hands. “Because he’s a
bit of an ass, that’s why.” I waved my hands around for effect. “What is it with
you guys? Here we are, stuck in the middle of a natural disaster of epic
proportions and the only two people I’ve come across so far have turned out to
be slightly... mean.”

Maybe calling him mean wasn’t the best approach, but it flew
out of my mouth before I really thought about it. “What I meant was shouldn’t
we all come together to figure out what is going on instead of doing this?” I
waved my arms again before dropping my aching hands back in my lap. “Oh, and
for the record, the guy you saw at the mall isn’t my friend.”

He crossed the room, and pushed aside the curtains to peer
out.

“He’s not with me anymore. I promise.”

“I believe you.” He continued to look out the dirty window.

O-kay.
Apparently, I’d exchanged one crazy person for
another.
Good job, Tess. You really know how to do this whole survival thing,
don’t you?

He stood watching out the window and saying nothing. What he
was looking for, I had no idea. If someone or something was out there, it
wouldn’t take much to get inside. Besides, the only other person I knew hadn’t
followed me. He had probably returned to his “lair” with a basketball and hoop
in his possession. The immature jerk.

“Why did you steal the backpack? We would’ve put together
one for you, you know?” I really wanted to know, so I tossed the question out
there, breaking the silence. Ever since he’d taken it and run off, I’d tried to
make sense of it, coming up with nothing remotely sensible.

He shook his head and adjusted his knitted beanie. “I don’t
know.”

“What?” I angled myself on the couch to get a better view of
him. “You don’t know? I’m sorry, but that’s not a good answer. You
had
to have had a reason.” I was losing feeling in my toes.
Darn zip-tie.

He turned from the window to look at me. “I needed stuff and
I got nervous. Is that better for you?”

I wiggled my feet. “A little better, but not by much. See? This
goes back to my original question as to why we don’t all work together to get
out of this mess instead of doing weird stuff like stealing each other’s
supplies or tying up people.”

He didn’t answer me and we both fell back into silence. I
lifted my bound wrists to my mouth again, but unless I wanted to lose a few
teeth in the process, biting the strap off wouldn’t work.

I was about to settle against the couch, give in to being
captive, but I sat straight up instead. Crap! Where was Callie? Jeez! I shifted
around on the couch, searching for her, but didn’t see any sign of my kitten
anywhere.

“Callie?” Oh, he’d better not have hurt her. Bound hands or
not, I’d kill him! “Callie!”

“I’m allergic to cats, so I put her in the bathroom. Don’t
worry, she’s fine.” He kept his back to me.

A tiny
meow
flittered down the hall, supporting his
statement. I let out my breath and sank against the couch cushions, satisfied Callie
was okay for the moment.

“You know,” he said, turning from the window and letting the
drapes fall into place, “your cat is the first animal I’ve seen in a long time.
Where did you find her?”

Shouldn’t we be talking about other things, like the fact that
I was still tied up, and what he planned to do with me? “I got her from the local
animal shelter.”

“Really?” He seemed surprised and stepped closer to me. “Was
she the only one alive or were there others?”

Alive? Others?
“Oh, wait. That’s not what you meant,
is it? No, I adopted her from the animal shelter
long
before all this
happened, and she’s been with me ever since.”

His face fell, looking very similar to when I told him I was
heading to Rockport Canyon to find Dad. He flopped down in the chair, laid his
head back and closed his eyes.

I noticed the lack of animals in the beginning, but hadn’t
paid much attention since then. I had bigger things to think of, like trying to
not die
for one, but no animals was pretty strange for sure. “Cole, the
guy I used to...”—
what do I call it?
—”be with, he thought it had to do
something with the weather and the water being contaminated. That’s why the
animals are either dead or have left.”

“Yeah, you’re...I mean, he’s probably right.” He didn’t open
his eyes. “I guess I kind of hoped when I saw your cat things were getting
better.” He looked up then, startling me a bit. “You know, a sign?”

What do I say to that?
“I’m... sorry.” I couldn’t
think of a better response.

He shook his head. “Not your fault. It’s mine, actually. I
keep expecting things to get better, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to
happen anytime soon, does it?”

“Maybe it’s not going to get better
here
, not for a while
anyway, but somewhere it’s better than this. That’s where the animals are. That’s
where the people are. And that’s where
we
should be.”

A smile broke out on his face, but it wasn’t sincere—sad,
really. “You still planning to go to Rockport? Look for your dad?”

I sensed a trap, but nodded anyway. “Yeah, I am.”

“What happens if he’s not there? What are you going to do
then?”

I scooted forward on the couch with my butt on the edge. “Why
does everyone assume he’s not going to be there? Why does everyone have to be
so negative?” Everyone meaning him and Cole.

He mimicked my movements and sat on the edge of his chair. “Did
you get a phone call or a message? Something that told you to meet him there?”

Where is he going with this?
I nodded.

“How long ago was that?”

“A couple of months.”

“And you’re just going to check it out now?”

I owed him nothing, least of all an explanation. “I couldn’t
before.”

He got up from the chair, crossed the room, and knelt in
front of me. He grabbed my ankles in his hands. “I’m from Denver.”

Denver? Jeez.
That was like... what? I didn’t know,
but Denver was a long,
long
way away. Lots of miles.

“My granddad left a message on my phone, too.” He slipped a
small knife from his pocket and flicked it open, then positioned it under the
plastic strap around my ankles and cut me free. “He told me they’d wait—him, my
uncles, my aunt, and two of my cousins. No matter how long it took. They were
safe, and they’d wait for me. As long as we were together, we’d be fine, he’d
said.”

“That’s great.” I moved my ankles in a circular motion, to
work out the kinks. “Where are you supposed to meet them?”

He took my wrists, his dark hands holding my pale ones, but
he didn’t cut the band as I expected. His eyes focused on mine. “You’re looking
at it.”