Children of the After: The Complete Series: A Young Adult Postapocalyptic Action and Adventure series (16 page)

Jack awoke with a start, the dream he was having reaching some sort of event that apparently was not conducive to sleep. Looking around his surroundings he saw Sam all curled up in a ball upon the floor. She was only a couple feet away, using her dead dolly pack as a pillow. Turning, he looked upon Will who slept leaning against the wall, his pack still on his back. How the child could sleep like that was a mystery, but Jack wasn’t about to disturb him.

Pressing his palms to the floor to sit up, he heard a shuffle to his left and turned to see the one who had saved them from the ape aliens. She was small. Petite. About Sam’s size, if not a tad taller. Looking at him with the palest green eyes he had ever seen, she wore a nervous smile and a short cropped haircut that Jack remembered Sam calling a pixie cut. She was cute, in a lanky, punkish, ‘needs a brush and immediate shower’ kind of way. Jack smiled back.

“Thank you for helping us,” he whispered, not knowing what was going on outside. She nodded in reply, and slowly walked towards him, kneeling when she got close. Following her movements, it wasn’t until she lowered herself down to his level, that he noticed the change that had occurred sometime while he was asleep.  Looking down, his injured ankle had been tended.

Gone was his boot and in its place was a makeshift splint tied with strips of cloth that he recognized. Looking back to the girl, he noted the jagged edge that was the bottom of her once oversized shirt. She had sacrificed her clothing to his injury, something a girl with limited resources might think twice about. Maybe she wasn’t still as keen on fashion as Sam was, now that the world had ended and all. Silently working his mouth, he lipped another thanks, and she smiled again before seating herself.

“Is it safe to talk?” Jack whispered to a replied nod.

“What is your name?” he asked.

She seemed to think about it a moment before raising a hand to point to her throat. Then, with a sad look in her eyes, she shook her head.

“You can’t speak?”

She shook her head again.

“I’m sorry,” Jack said, ashamed. “How am I supposed to know what to call you?”

The girl with the pale eyes raised her hand with one finger extended like a cartoon character having an idea. Then lowering her hands she placed them on her mid-section.

“Charades? This is so not my game. But, I’ll give it a try,” Jack explained. “I’m assuming your name isn’t stomach?”

She grinned, shaking her head, and began rubbing her hands in a circular pattern.

“Pregnant? Preggers? Pregger? Peggy? Is it Peggy?”

Again she shook her head, grinning and bobbing slightly as if laughing silently.

“Hmm… Baby? Wow, sorry. That could get awkward. Your name isn’t really Baby, is it?”

She shook her head again, this time changing her tactic to patting her toned mid-section.

“Abs. Abby? No. Flat… Tone… Tummy…”

She stopped and pointed at him nodding.

“Tummy? Your name is Tummy?”

She shook her head. Good thing too. What kind of weirdo names their kid Tummy?

“It’s Tammy, you idiot,” Sam said, causing him jump, and he turned his gaze on his sister as she stretched out, balling her hands into fists and cracking her toes before rising.

Turning his gaze back to their savior, Jack saw Tammy nodding at him vigorously with a wide smile on her lips.

“It’s nice to meet you, Tammy,” Jack said, reaching his hand out to her.

She accepted his hand and shook it wildly, like a child would when playing at meeting someone.

“Thank you, Tammy, for everything you have done,” Jack smiled at their new friend.

* * * * *

Sometimes the boy was as sharp as a bowling ball. Sam couldn’t help but wonder how Jack made it through school. Sitting up after her much-needed stretch, Sam watched as Tammy and Jack shook hands and then reached out as well to introduce herself.

“Hi, Tammy, I’m Sam,” she said, taking the girl’s small hand.

Oddly, the thin girl smiled and turned back to Jack before pointing at herself and then her stomach once again. Then, looking towards Jack, she pointed at him with a quizzical look on her face.

“Oh, I’m sorry. My name is Jack, and that’s Will,” Jack answered her unspoken question.

Shaking her head at her brother, Sam couldn’t help but wonder if it was hot girl syndrome that was making him especially dense this morning. Sometimes boys were known to get stupid around girls they liked. Then again, maybe he was still tired, or hungry. She had a feeling it was option number one, though.

Looking about the room, she found much to her surprise that they were in an oven of sorts. Racks filled with bricks lined the back wall of the room where a mound of other various items were piled haphazardly in the corner. Beside the pile of items was a stack of books nearly three feet tall. They were all large hardback tomes with matching spines and immediately Sam recognized them for what they were. Encyclopedias.

Thinking about the set of books was oddly depressing. There, between the covers of each book, were pictures of the world in all of its glory. All human accomplishments were there. Every known species of animal, and every human civilization too. And now, it was all gone. No wonder the girl had been reading them. They were a reminder of what had once been.

Turning her eyes back to the girl, she found Will digging through his pack, removing jars of Grandma’s canned goods. It wasn’t until he extracted a bottle of water that Tammy’s eyes widened, her expression not masking her desire. The girl was thirsty. Who knew how long it had been since she had drank any clean water? Looking to her brother, who remained digging through his pack, it was obvious that he had missed the look. Sliding to his side, Sam reached out and grabbed one of the plastic bottles he had placed on the floor, and meeting Tammy’s eyes she tossed it to the other girl. Tears welled up in Tammy’s eyes, though she fought them, her chin and lower lip quivering.

“Don’t cry, sweetie. You have done way more for us than we have for you. The least we can do is give you some water.”

Tammy placed the bottle in her lap, raising her hands, palms together, lipping a thank you over and over.

“You are very welcome, Tammy. Drink up. Don’t be shy,” Sam said, smiling.

It only took Tammy a second to remove the bottle’s screw cap and begin gulping down the water. Sam expected her to finish the bottle in one go, but instead, a little over half way through, Tammy lowered the bottle reluctantly from her lips and returned the cap. Unexpectedly, Sam watched as Tammy thrust out her arm to return the bottle of water.

“No, you keep it. We have more.” Sam said raising her own hands in protest.

“I hope you’re hungry too,” Jack added, finally looking up from his bag. “The least we could do is share our food.”

Tammy nodded shyly, and the decision was made. As Jack began opening jars and locating their few eating utensils, Sam pondered the girl who couldn’t talk. They had so many questions, yet they happened to find the one person who might have the answers but was unable to explain.

“Tammy. Is there an easier way for us to communicate? I’m afraid we don’t know much about what happened to the world outside and we have a lot of questions that you could probably answer for us,” Sam stated.

Nodding with a peculiar expression that looked like both excitement and worry, Tammy climbed to her feet, smoothing her skinny jeans and torn shirt before moving to the back of the room and collecting something from the pile. Returning, she presented the single subject notebook and a permanent marker. Sam pondered the semi-anxious look upon the girl’s face, but decided that it was probably embarrassment over her limited ability to communicate.

“That’s perfect, Tammy. We can eat breakfast and answer each other’s questions.”

“Did someone say breakfast?” Will’s voice came from behind Tammy.

“Sure did, kiddo,” Jack replied. “Let’s grub.”

* * * * *

Waking to the smell of food, Will couldn’t help but swallow hard as his mouth was watering just as soon as he was awake. Climbing to his feet, he found his legs more than a little sore, but didn’t bother complaining. Crossing the small room, he approached his siblings and the strange haired girl that sat with them.

“Will. This is Tammy. She’s the one who saved us last night, but she doesn’t talk so don’t be rude,” Sam warned with her best mommy voice.

It was almost creepy how much she sounded like Mom when she was trying to be a grown up.

“I’m not rude,” Will said and began recalling what sign language he had learned in first grade the year before.

Signing a quick introduction, spelling out his name with his fingers, he was surprised to find that Tammy simply shook her head, pointing to his gestures. She didn’t talk
or
sign. Weird. Maybe she lost her voice in the event and no one was left to teach her sign language. In any case, it didn’t really matter at the moment. There was food to eat and Will didn’t feel he was doing his part.

Plopping down upon the floor beside the mysterious Tammy, Will accepted a fork from Jack and began stabbing various foods out of a handful of jars laid out before him like a buffet.

“Don’t be greedy, Will,” Sam said, sounding even more like Mom.

“I’m not being greedy, Sam. I’ve been running for like a month and my tummy is growling like a polar bear.”

“Slow down and chew. You’re going to choke.”

Will grabbed his throat and rolled his eyes back in their sockets making small choking sounds before swallowing, and giggling like there was no tomorrow.

“Oh my, eating is soooo dangerous,” he joked as Sam gave him a pair of sinister eyes.

“Do I have to break this up, you two?” Jack mocked.

“Har har, wise guys,” Sam said. “You see what I have to deal with, Tammy?”

Tammy just smiled a wide smile, watching them all as she nervously took her first bite. With her eyes rolling just like Will had done, her mouth fell open in appreciation as she smiled anew before attacking her food more vigorously. Smiling, Will took it as a challenge. Apparently he finally had some competition. Will attacked his food once more, entirely more aggressively than was needed, snatching even the pickle that Sam extracted from a jar for herself. Will growled at her before stuffing the whole thing in his mouth, giggling like a child gone mad with a mouth full of half chewed food. Taking away his fork, and tickling him after he swallowed, Sam pretended to chide him over the pickle theft before finally Will gave in and promised to behave.

They ate in silence then for several more minutes before Sam started to talk at almost the same instant Jack began talking too.

“Are you from here, Tammy?” Sam asked.

“Are you all alone?” Jack asked.

Will watched as Tammy opened her notebook and popped the last bit of pickle in her mouth before very carefully writing something on the page within. Holding it up, Will looked over the words, admiring the perfect penmanship. It was almost as if the words had been typed upon the page, as each letter was formed as if straight from a text book.

“I’m so sorry, Tammy,” Sam said earnestly. “Our parents are missing too. Have you been here long?”

Again Tammy put marker to page and Will watched the tip scratch across the paper to create more perfect text.

“Can you tell us what happened out here? Why is everything burned?” Jack asked, getting straight to the point.

“Have you seen any other people?” This time it was Will’s turn to ask a question.

Will pondered the words written on the page. She talked funny, or rather, she wrote funny. Maybe she was from Mexico or Canada or something. Her skin was kind of an olive color and her eyes were bright. Like weird bright. More or less she hadn’t told them much of anything they hadn’t already figured out.  She was obviously hungry. She probably hadn’t eaten in a while. She was alone, and so far as he could tell she was nice. She didn’t have to help them last night but she had.

What bothered Will, was the fact that she said she hadn’t seen people in a long time.
That
was scary. He sure hoped they could find more people, and was about to ask her when the last time was, when Jack began questioning her again.

“Do you know why they attacked? What they want?”

“Have you heard that there are more people to the south in St. Louis? We were told there are resistance fighters there,” Jack continued.