Awaken the Elements (Elemental Trilogy) (38 page)

             
“Anatha, what would your dad say if he caught you here?” Stefan joked.

             
“Oh my.” Anatha whispered, looking around wide eyed. “He’ll see us in a sex shop with three guys. You all are going to die. He’ll kill you all for this.” She wasn’t joking. Her father was very protective when it came  to things like guys and his daughter.

             
“Please,” Rowan said, rolling his eyes.

             
“She’s not bullshitting,” Autumn replied. “My dad would go all freaky too.”

             
River was going to say something, when the men came out from the back. “I have to admit, that’s all sort of interesting,” Anatha’s dad said.

             
They all heard a paper bag being moved from arm to arm. “I see at least someone is going to have some real fun tonight,” Howard laughed.

             
“I think I’m sobering up. We need another bottle of moonshine, boys,” Bud announced as they left the store.

             
Autumn stood up when she was sure the coast was clear. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she replied, turning green. She walked out of the store quickly, once she was sure the men had disappeared.

             
Anatha shook her head. “That was just a terrible scene.”

             
“Is she okay?” Stefan asked.

             
“She’s fine. You ever get used to your parents talking about sex?” Anatha started to walk out of the store.

             
Rowan patted Stefan on the back. “The idea of my parents having sex makes me sick too.”

             
Stefan nodded, “My mom never did the big sex talk. She let the school teach me that.”

             
River walked past them. “My mom didn’t tell me what sex was. I learned early from you guys.” Stefan and Rowan exchanged glances, and Rowan shrugged.

             
“It’s true. I mean, where else was the kid going to learn it,” Rowan said.

             
“Can we now make our way back up to the roof?” Anatha asked.

             
Just then the walkie-talkie flared to life. “We’ve been caught!” Someone shouted. It sounded like Ivy Lee. “They got us.” The voice cut off.

             
“Oh, geez,” Autumn sighed, “I think we’re the only ones left.”

             
“You think?” Stefan asked.

             
“What about Jaime?” Anatha asked.

             
“Let’s go and see,” Autumn said.

             
A few moments later they made it to the roof. They took in the fresh air tainted with rot and the view of the cloudless sky. It was so blue.  They squinted as the bright sunlight burned their eyes. Together, they went over to the edge and looked over. “The view doesn’t change much from up here,” Stefan said, making them all nod.

             
Autumn grabbed an empty box and tossed it over the edge at the slow, starved infected below them. It confused them, but soon they were all over it and stomped the box to get to the window. “I hate them,” she said.

             
“Shit!” Stefan muttered. They all turned questioning eyes to him, since he rarely got angry.

             
“What’s up, Stefan?” Anatha asked.

             
He looked at her. “I forgot the football in Millers Outhouse.”

             
“Why did you go and do that?” River asked. “I’m not going back to get it.”

             
“I must have dropped it or something. Sorry,” Stefan said, apologizing.

             
“That’s fine. We can just hang out here for a while,” Anatha said.

             
“And do what?” Rowan asked.

             
Autumn looked around, “Cartoon tag.”

             
“Cartoon what?” River asked.

             
“Cartoon tag.” Autumn saw all the blank faces. “You know how to play tag, right?” She asked. They nodded. “Well, you know freeze tag, right?” They nodded. “Well cartoon tag is just like regular tag. When the person who’s it gets close, you sit down on the ground and say a cartoon character’s name within sixty seconds.  Once a character’s name is said, it can’t be repeated until everyone running around says a character.”

             
“And what happens if you can’t think of a character?” River asked.

             
“Well, you’re it then, right?” Anatha said, looking at Autumn. Autumn nodded.

             
“So let’s play. I haven’t played tag in years,” Stefan said.

             
“Don’t worry, I don’t think any of us have,” Anatha said.

             
“Who’s it?” Rowan asked.

             
“Well, if I remember correctly, Autumn is. Since she came up with the game, she’s it,” River said.

             
Autumn sighed, “Yep, that’s true.”

             
The group played kid’s games for a while, and when everyone was tired, they sat relaxing in the sun as they chatted. The late March day was too nice not to take advantage of. River sat with Stefan and Anatha by the edge, looking down at the zombies.

             
Autumn watched Anatha eye Stefan’s shoe. She already knew what Anatha wanted to do and laughed to herself. “What’s so funny?” Rowan leaned in to ask. She leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around her a little tighter.

             
“Anatha is going to steal Stefan’s shoes,” Autumn whispered, resting her head on his shoulder.

             
“How do you know?”

             
“Watch. See the way she looks over the edge at the infected? She then looks at Stefan’s shoes. She’s thinking about throwing shoes over the edge.”

             
“Okay,” Rowan said, watching. “That’s a bit strange. But if you hadn’t mentioned it, and I was watching her, I would never have thought about it.”

             
Autumn nodded, “I get her more than most.”

             
Rowan said quietly, “
Magic
?” He stared at her and noticed she was staring off into space. “Something wrong?”

             
“Just thinking.”

             
“You know you can tell me anything.” He kissed her cheek gently.

             
She gave him an involuntary smile. “I was just thinking.” They watched Anatha snatch Stefan’s shoe and toss it over the edge.

             
“Hey!” Stefan cried, watching his shoe twirl down, hitting one of the infected on the head and then bouncing off the ground.

             
“Yes,” Anatha hissed.

             
“Good shot,” River replied.

             
“That was my shoe,” Stefan said.

             
Autumn relaxed into Rowan’s arms, “See, I told you”

             
“Yep,”

             
“So,” Anatha looked at Stefan’s other shoe. “Since that one’s lost, can I have the other?”

             
“Whatever.” he took off the remaining shoe and handed it to her.

             
“Great, now I think I’ll hit the naked one. It sort of creeps me out,” She threw the shoe. It hit the infected she was aiming for.

             
Rowan ran his fingers playfully over Autumn’s arms. She took his hand and held it. He noticed her fingers were cold and covered them with his own to warm them.

             
“Give me your damn shoe, River, or I’ll take it from you and beat you with it before I throw it at the zombies,” Anatha said in a threatening growl.

             
“No,” River replied, crossing his arms over his chest and standing up.

             
“You can get more at the five different shoe stores in this stupid mall,” she reminded him.

             
“No.”

             
“Afraid your feet will get cold?” Anatha asked, losing her patience.

             
“No.”

             
“Okay then, your feet smell?” she asked.

             
“No.”

             
Anatha pushed him over and sat on him. “I warned you.” She took off his shoes.

             
“If only I could get a girl to do more than strip off my shoes,” Stefan said with light humor.

             
“Eh,” she said and tossed the shoe down at him. “It’s no fun without Jaime here. I wonder which elder grabbed him.”

             
They snuck down off the roof. “Screw going the long way. I want to get down to our floor,” Stefan told everyone.

             
Autumn agreed. “They have the others, and that should keep them busy.”

             
They left the fifth floor and entered the fourth floor. They each looked around wildly, not wanting to get caught. “Let’s hit the elevator,” River whispered.

             
“Sounds good to me.” Anatha led the way.

             
They quickly but quietly walked over toward the elevator. “Hey, what’s that noise?” Rowan asked.

             
Anatha cocked her head slightly to the left, listening. “My dad, I think,” she whispered. She walked carefully over to the store they had to pass to get safely to the elevators and peeked in. She turned around, put her finger to her lips, and ran past the store.

             
Autumn copied her but paused and looked in. “I’m glad you all walked up to visit us,” Anatha’s dad’s voice slurred from the alcohol. Autumn observed the bored looks of the others who had been caught. Jaime glanced over at her as she walked by. He thought about telling the drunks about them but decided against it.

             
Stefan peeked around the store entrance.

“I’ll tell you about,” he pause
d, taking a sip from his cup, “about nineteen eighty-four,” Bud said.

             
“I think we heard some of this before,” Frank interrupted.

             
“So what?” Anatha’s dad scolded him. “Hush when your elders speak.”

             
“Eighty-four was the best year ever. Good movies, good music, and to top it off, good drink and drugs,” Bud said, hiccupping, as he looked at the wall, dazed.

             
“Dad, how about we talk about this some other time?” Envy said.

             
Stefan shook his head and went by. River and Rowan walked by quickly. They all made it to the elevator. “I think I heard that story two weeks ago,” Stefan said.

             
“You were caught?” River asked.

             
Rowan chuckled and said, “Yeah, he was coming back from a shower.”

             
Stefan nodded, and the doors opened. “I use the one on the second floor now.” The group laughed then went their separate ways.

****

             
Anatha had a chair in her hand. “I’ll beat you, bitch!” she screamed. Autumn’s mouth dropped open at the sight of her cousin as she looked over the edge. “Come on, say it again!” Anatha was yelling at Janice.

             
“Anatha, calm down,” Jaime said, his hands up, trying to grab the chair away from her.

             
She swirled around to face him, the chair ready to strike. He raised his hands to fend off the blow. “Shut up!” she yelled.

             
“What’s going on?” Autumn called down.

             
“The bitch is calling my mama names,” she said, looking up at her.

             
“I just said she reminds me of my crackhead mom. I thought she would understand,” Janice said, defending herself.

             
“Save it, Janice. You don’t want to be understood, just fucked,” Jaime replied.

             
“Fuck you,” she growled at him.

             
“Yeah, and you know what, no one wants your dirty ass!” Anatha smirked.

             
“Anatha, put the chair down,” Autumn coaxed.

             
Anatha put it down. She didn’t realize she had grabbed it in the first place. “I am still going to kick your slutty ass,” she said, pointing her finger at Janice.