Out of the Dark: An apocalyptic thriller (25 page)

     Eric and Kirby, the only ones who’d followed Armani into the tiny space, exchanged a worried look and then nodded rapidly.

     “We’ll get right on it,” Kirby declared as they went for their tools and the barricading supplies they had stacked against the well-fortified front door.

     Armani returned to the main part of the office, where Gwen and Molly had taken to setting out food for the night. Though the group was large, none of the individual units within it had had much time to gather much of anything useful before joining the caravan and the only places they’d stopped so far had been small stores with nothing really useful for a group of their size.

     Gwen and Molly spread out granola bars, fruit snacks, and packs of crackers with the help of two young twin girls, Ivy and Brooke. Armani saw that they must have raided the small fridge in the corner by one of the desks, because they also had put out two bottles of juice and a whole package of string cheese that Armani knew hadn’t been among their supplies. He resolved that they would spend the entire next day foraging if they made it that far. They needed more than snacks to get through what had happened and would continue to happen to their world.

     Armani rubbed his hand over first Brooke’s soft blond hair and then the identical locks of her sister. Brooke and Ivy had been twins to the kind of parents that dressed them in matching outfits, kept their haircuts exactly the same and basically made it maddening for the rest of the world to figure out which was which.

     Brooke lifted her pale blue eyes to Armani and smiled at him, and Armani knew which twin it was. Brooke was freer with her grins, and the expression lit her up while the more morose Ivy had not once smiled since he’d found them the day before.

     They’d been huddled together in the back of a wrecked vehicle, abandoned by parents who’d become corrupted, been killed, or had some other fate befall them. No matter how it had come to be, the twins had been alone and Armani had taken them in. He had become something of a shepherd of the lost within this cataclysm, and he accepted the mantle of savior as easily as he’d shed his previous life.

     He heard a small, breathless cry and it tightened his own chest. He’d had three boys, all of whom were dead. Alec reminded him of fatherhood with every sweet little noise, every look.

     Checking in on Kimberly Woods and her husband, David, Armani ensured himself that the last few members of his group were in fair condition.

     Alec clung to his mother, a newborn boy of less than a month who was dwarfed by the snowsuit they had him bundled in. Out of all the people who worried about their lack of supplies, Kim, David, and Alec would soon be hurting the worst if something wasn’t done.

     Breastfeeding hadn’t been Kim’s choice for Alec so he needed formula. Regrettably, they’d been out and about when the Onset had struck and only had the single can and four travel packs of formula they always carried in his diaper bag.

     Mixing four ounces in one of two bottles she had for her son, Kim looked worriedly at the gallon jug of distilled water they had. There was only about a third of the container left full.

     “The water hasn’t shut off yet,” Armani reminded them warmly as he knelt by Kim and her son. David sat in the office chair, elbows on his knees. His dark hair was mussed, as though he’d been running his hands through it nervously.

     “That doesn’t help us much,” Kim said, and her voice was distracted as she tipped the bottle in offer toward Alec’s mouth. His lusty crying ceased as he latched and sucked hungrily. It was almost bedtime for the tiny babe. “He needs diapers, preferably distilled water, more formula. It takes a lot to care for a baby, especially one so young.”

     “And you,” David interrupted as he sat beside his wife and child and tipped Kim’s face up using a gentle finger on her chin. “You have to tell me the instant it becomes too rough for you, sweetheart. To think you just had a baby two weeks ago and now we’re on the run for our lives… You need to get some sleep, same as Alec. How are you doing without your pain meds?”

     Kim shrugged; a noncommittal answer. Armani knew the poor woman was probably miserable. There was a period of pain, weakness, and tenderness that came before one bounced back from bearing a child. Armani had seen it three times and each time, his heart had gone out to his wife. She was tough, as was Kim, but there came a point where toughness didn’t matter.

     “It hurts,” Kim whispered, her gaze locked on Alec as though the image of his little face was all the relief she needed from the trauma her body had gone through. From childbirth to a car crash which had thankfully not damaged their only mode of transportation beyond the ability to drive it two weeks later, and then running for her and her baby’s life, Kim had reached a limit she didn’t know she had.

     “Of course it does, sweetheart,” David offered consolingly as he gently maneuvered around her so that he could sit behind her. He eased her back until she rested against his strong chest. He rubbed her shoulders gently but with enough force to work some of the tired muscles. The support was greatly needed, and she smiled her appreciation at him as he kissed her light brown hair. Kim’s green eyes shone with love for her husband and then for her son as she noticed him starting to drift off.

     “He was shit through my pregnancy, do you know that?” Kim said to Armani teasingly. “Man, he was a bastard. Out more times in those nine months than he had been the whole seven years we’d been together combined. Out with friends, out drinking, out playing cards. He was snappy, uninvolved. You know he didn’t even want to go to the ultrasounds at first? Oh, man, was I pissed…”

     “I was scared out of my fucking mind,” David added, and his voice wasn’t surly, but amused and slightly apologetic.

     “Yeah, and you drove me out of mine the whole time I carried Alec.”

     “Then the day came, and though we’d planned for a c-section, they couldn’t get her lower body numb,” David recalled. “Holy shit, you have no idea how hard it was to wait outside that room when they had to put her fully under to take the baby. No one was allowed in. I didn’t get to see him until they took him out of the room to get him cleaned off.”

     “It was the most miraculous change,” Kim put in with another glowing smile. “I woke up hours later, confused as all hell, hurting more than I knew it was possible to hurt and he was there with the baby. He was a different man, I knew that the minute he handed Alec to me. Not only was it love at first sight, but it completely changed him.”

     “You think love is supposed to be gentle,” David declared as he tenderly touched the head of his now-sleeping infant. “But there was nothing gentle about it. Seeing Alec utterly destroyed who I was. It decimated every piece of me and remade me into a man I didn’t recognize, could never have become without him.” He kissed Kim’s temple and smirked. “And I’ve apologized for being an asshole every day since we had him and she’s yet to forgive me.”

     Kim shrugged again, and her smile was bright. “I figure he gave me nine months of hell, he’s at least got that much groveling ahead of him.”

     Armani laughed with them and stroked the back of one finger against Alec’s chin. Out of all of them, Alec was his main concern. They’d find a way to take care of the boy, no matter what.

     “We’re going to go supply hunting tomorrow,” Armani told them. “I wanted to let you know because Alec is my main focus. We have to go somewhere that would have the things he needs. You can’t go in, Kim, and I wouldn’t ask you to leave her, Dave, so I want you guys to make me a list, okay?”

     “Now, I need to contribute,” David protested, and Armani gave him a stern look.

     “You contribute by taking care of your wife and boy. We’re going to be staying on the move, so we need to get as much stuff as we can that can move with us, be made, and consumed on the road. You get me that list before tomorrow, all right?”

     “I’ll write it out,” Kim agreed as she patted Dave’s hand. “Dave can stand sentry with the vehicles whenever it’s needed while you’re gathering things up.”

     “There, you see?” Armani said to David with a wink. “Your lovely lady here has it all figured out.”

     Alec shifted in sleep, suckling at empty air and all three adults smiled at him. Armani touched the boy’s cheek once more, then stood to see to the rest of the group. “Do you want some juice or a granola bar?” he asked them at the doorway.

     “I’ll come out and grab a couple of things,” Dave said as he stood. Kim smiled at him as he walked out.

     Armani talked quietly with Gwen and Molly for a few moments, asking them to let Brooke and Ivy sleep near them for the night. The girls were the latest addition to the caravan and so far, with the exception of Armani, Gwen and Molly were the only people with whom the twins would speak without a hint of suspicion or distrust.

     Brooke tugged on Armani’s shirt, acting like a much younger girl than her nine years. She was at once shy and eager to interact, and Armani had warmed to her as soon as he’d taken them in. Though he’d had all boys, Armani was good with all children and Brooke liked him immensely.

     He bent down to hear what she was saying, as she spoke just below the level of a whisper. “Mani, there’s something outside.”    

     “Oh yeah, baby girl?” he asked, using the same furtive tone she was using. “What’s out there?”

     “Bad things,” she said with a furrow of contemplation marring the smooth lines of her brow. Armani thought about the sneaking suspicion he’d had about the tree, and did not discount the girl’s words.

     Kneeling beside her, Armani saw that Brooke’s statements had capture Gwen and Molly’s attention, as well. He gave them a calming expression, and then focused again on Brooke.

     “I know there are things out there, Brooke,” he said in his best soothing voice. “That’s why we’re staying in here for the night.” He gestured to the barricades, drawing her attention to them. Eric stood at one door with a heavy metal pike he’d commandeered from the garage. Kirby was at the other, holding a handgun. Of all of them, Armani had been most surprised to find that Kirby had a permit to carry.

     “We’ve made it as safe as we could,” he continued. “We’ve blocked it all up, and Eric and Kirby are watching and listening, so they’ll be able to let us know if the bad things come nearby. Meanwhile, we have to be very, very quiet…” His voice got quieter and quieter as he spoke, until he simply mouthed the last word.

     Brooke nodded solemnly. Then, she said, “It shouldn’t be him at the door,” as she pointed to Eric. She continued, saying, “They want him like they want you, and that’s more than the rest of us.”

     A pulse-speeding disquiet settled into Armani at her words. The vague and uncomfortable chill felt reminiscent to the psychic stirrings he’d been feeling ever since the Onset began. He knew what Brooke said was important, knew it in a way he knew there was a difference in Eric and himself from the others. Except for the other man, everyone, including the newborn boy Alec, was touched by the blight that had come with the Onset.

     Armani didn’t know how to handle the child’s distinctly unsettling premonition. Until he looked at Gwen, he didn’t know what he was going to say. But as soon as their eyes met, he spoke, and knew the words were exactly what were needed.

     “Can you take Eric’s watch?”

     Standing, Gwen nodded and moved toward Eric. She had become incredibly disturbed by Brooke’s prophetic-sounding statements, and she sensed Armani’s distress concerning the girl’s words, as well. She was spooked enough not to argue about the change in guard duty at all.

     “You take a nap,” she told Eric as she approached with a friendly smile. She felt the difference in him, different from everyone in the group except Armani. He wasn’t tainted as she was tainted, even as the children were tainted. It was off-putting to her. She wondered what preserved them even as she steeled her resolve to protect them.

     “Why?” Eric responded, and he was truly baffled by the prospect of a one hundred and thirty pound woman taking sentry duty away from a muscle-heavy man who had almost seventy pounds on her.

     Gwen kept her voice light as she gently pushed him away from the door toward the spread blankets that made up the resting area. “Chances are nothing will happen, anyway, and I don’t feel like driving tomorrow.”

     Before he could further protest, Armani said, “Eric, I want you rested for tomorrow. Gwen isn’t going to be our heavy lifter when it comes to supplies. Get some sleep.”

     Though he still wanted to argue, the look Armani gave Eric stilled his tongue. The man probably only had a decade on him at the most, but his air made protestation seem a silly thing; at times even a dangerous one.

     “Can I sleep with you?” Eric said jokingly to Molly as he relinquished his spot for guard duty.

     “Only if you want an ass-kicking,” Gwen commented from her place near the door.

     Eric chuckled. He once again found the size difference between them to be amusing, especially with her sweet-sounding threat.

     Molly blew Gwen a kiss before she tucked herself down into a thin blanket, snuggling against the thick comforter and sleeping bag she had underneath her as a makeshift bed. The pillow, she had brought from home; it smelled like the shampoo she and Gwen used. Gwen told her she was childlike in her ability to sleep anywhere, no matter what was going on. The current situation was no exception. Even with the lights on and people murmuring around her, Molly was asleep within moments.