The Long Way To Reno (14 page)

            “Emmy,
lie down!” Harley then commanded, as I became aware of sharp-pitched pops
behind us. She shrieked once she realized we were being shot at. He turned
abruptly, my arms whipping out for a steady hold on the door and dash, to keep
from rolling onto the floor.

            “I
don’t – want – to - die – like this!” Emmy hollered, half
sobbing, her voice being muffled as she followed through with what Harley said.
“They – were- supposed to – save us!”

            “Well,
they didn’t. They wanted to kill us,” I said.

            “What
are we going to do?”

            I
held tightly onto my weapon. I couldn’t see where Harley was driving us, but we
hit a dirt road. Terror hit me, then, and I lifted my head, ignoring his order
to keep down. I saw the fires in Sparks, the smoke that blanketed the valley
sky. It was slowly disappearing behind us, the angle of the dirt road we were
taking telling me that we were moving further from it.

            “NO!
Turn back around!” I cried. Glass shattered and changed that idea, Emmy
screaming as Harley ducked. Tires spun, slid, and then the truck straightened
out. Something heavy clanged against the bed in the back, and I dimly
remembered his rifle being back there. “We’re going away from Reno, we need to
go
to
Reno!”

“I
can’t! Not with those guys behind me!” Harley shouted at me. We had to duck
again, as glass shattered over the seats. The headlights of the vehicle behind
us were blinding, and I could no longer see the city as I ducked behind the
seat.

            I
reached blindly for the door handle. Harley saw what I was doing, and reached
over, yanking at my jacket to pull me away. The truck swerved, Emmy screamed,
and I pulled away with an enraged roar.

            “I’ve
got to go
home
!”

            “We’ll
get there! Just not right now!”

            “Turn
back around!” I cried uselessly. I knew it wasn’t possible at this moment
– but I was reacting primitively. Frustrated that, as close as I was to
home, I was being pulled away again.

           
:
:

            Somehow,
Harley lost them. The silence was immense – it was cold, the night
creeping in through the shattered back window. Emmy was sniffling on the floor
behind us, and when I finally peeked up, I saw that we were surrounded by the
darkness of the desert. The night sky twinkled down on us, and I wanted to cry
in frustration.

            “We’re
almost out of gas,” he mumbled. Thumped on the dash to indicate the glowing
light.

            For
a long time, we didn’t say anything. The sounds of wildlife grew apparent, and
Emmy eventually stopped crying. Harley turned the vehicle off, and, with the
motor silenced, it felt like we were the only remaining people in the world.

            I
lifted my head as he climbed out. I couldn’t even tell where we were –
everything was pure black. I slowly righted myself in the seat, Fubar dropping
to the floor. Staring out the dusty windshield, I tried telling myself that it
was going to be okay. Because we were still alive, and there was more than one
way into Reno.

            We
just had to find it.

Chapter Nine

It
was nearly evening, almost an entire day by the time our quiet walk ended at a
sprawling, abandoned ranch. I was pretty glum that this area had the destroyed
Tracy Clark in the visible distance, as well as the other warehouses and
buildings that Patrick sheltered. The Wild Horse Brothel was visible as well,
but its flashy red lights had died, leaving it a gaudy sprawl that had once
been busy with wild west debauchery.

Horses
approached us with friendly whinnies, but I didn’t bother with them, unsure of
how to behave around animals bigger than a canine. Harley paused to take in the
area with a squinty-eyed observation – I hurried forward because I was
hoping that the place had working electricity and hot water.

            “You
think we lost them?” Emmy was asking Harley by the time I’d emerged from the
largest bathroom in the house, a massive sprawl in a bedroom decorated with
gaudy rodeo things. Whoever the people were that owned the house had plucked
their gun cabinet clean, left behind a trail of papers from an open safe, and
had left a gory mess in the living room. I didn’t bother looking at the
cheerful pictures lining the walls.

            There
was no point getting to know people that had been killed.

            Harley
said something I didn’t catch, as I was rubbing my wet hair with a towel and
observing the candles lit on the floor, the heavy drapes that were drawn over
floor to ceiling windows. It was extremely dark, still and discomforting to be
in a place like this. Yet, at the same time, I was grateful for it – the
hot shower was refreshing. I had spent time examining and marveling over all
the ugly bruises that colored my skin. Plus, I’d found that teenagers had once
lived here, and had left behind impressive name-brand wardrobes Emmy and I
could use.

            “All
finished,” I announced, tossing the towel aside.

            Emmy
performed a double take while Harley glared at whatever he was he was doing.
They were sitting behind one of the counters with some of the candles, eating.
A dog that Emmy had found wandering outside wagged his tail as I approached,
and nosed my thigh as I sat down.

            “You
really look your age, now,” Emmy said helpfully, rising and brushing off her
pants. “C’mon, Brandon!”

            “Find
pants that fit, dear,” I said, ignoring her comment as I reached for an apple.
The dog, Brandon, followed after her as she walked off.

            I
munched on the apple as Harley continued to ignore me. Well, if he wanted to be
all awkward, he was allowed to. Boundaries had to be established, and they were
established very well.

            “The
perimeters secure?” I asked, almost sarcastically.

            “If
they really wanted to find us, they could follow our footprints,” he answered
snidely.

            “True,”
I said. “Is there coffee in this dump? I could do the first watch.”

            “I
already told Emmy I’d do it.”

            “The
gallant hero,” I said, with a roll of my eyes. I figured he’d be better at that
sort of thing, anyway. That way, I could sleep and – then I decided that
this line of thinking wasn’t acceptable. If Harley had to watch over the both
of us, he’d be worn out pretty quick. The more I thought about it, the more it
made sense that I start contributing to these survival services as well.

“I’ll
do half, you do half. Let the kid sleep for awhile. If that dog’s staying with
us, he’ll hear something before we do,” I said reluctantly, feeling weird to do
something out of my character.

            Harley
tossed a tube into the center of the lit area, and I recognized it as gun oil.
He was cleaning the rifle, various brushes and rags laying around him in a
disorganized mess. There was also a handgun he’d found sitting nearby – I
didn’t know what sort, as it was nearly hidden underneath the jacket he’d taken
off. I watched him put the gun back together, piece by careful piece.

            The
shower came on, and Emmy cheered loudly enough to have the dog barking in
response.

            “Are
you ignoring me, now?” I asked, finishing the apple.

            “I’m
not ignoring you…I just have nothing to say to you.”

            “Sure
you do. Since when are you comfortable with guns?” I asked.

            He
did some adjusting, reloaded it loudly, and then sighted it to make sure the
scope was realigned. He then set the murder weapon aside. So much time had
passed that I was going to ask again when he spoke.

            “Since
my dad taught me what to do with them.”

            “I
hate guns,” I contributed. “My dad has, like, ten of them at home. He’s a cop,
for RPD? And he tried to get me and mom all CCW’d, but we were having none of
it. Mom hates them, too.”

            He
had dark shadows under his eyes that looked more pronounced with the
candlelight. He gave me a shrug and a ‘So-What?’ look.

            I
huffed. “Jesus, are you going to act like a child, now? We need an adult in
this group, and it’s not going to be me.”

            “I’m
tired. I’m
exhausted
. I have nothing to contribute to this –
conversation.”

            “You
were more than willing to talk to me before that. Now that we have time to
somewhat relax and regroup, you’re acting like a brat.”

            He
grabbed his rifle, rose from the floor. “Then I’ll take my attitude elsewhere.
You two have the master bedroom. I’ll take the couch. Emmy and I already set up
the rooms to make it look as if we’re in them. Decoys, if you will.”

            I
wanted to continue ripping him apart for behaving like a rejected a-hole, but I
thinned my lips and let him walk away. It was so stupid to be acting like this,
at a time like this. I glared at the candles, heard Emmy sing a stanza of
Adele’s latest. The dog howled along with her.

: :

            “I
think you would be the only person in, like, B movie history that ever bothered
to be vain at a time like this,” Emmy stated, her wet hair dripping on the
sheets as she watched me paint her nails a dark blue color. Mine were bright
red. We couldn’t sleep so we raided the teenagers’ rooms for things to do. Brandon
was lying off to our side, sighing every little while.

He
looked at us with sad eyes, like he was waiting to hear from his owners soon.

“Because
I am a person that openly admits what she is,” I murmured, blowing my bangs
from my vision. “Why hide it?”

Emmy
blew on her nails once I was finished.  She couldn’t find a hair dryer, so
her scene hair was natural – blond and lying in layered clumps around her
face. She hadn’t bothered putting on makeup – she looked her age. She’d
told me she was sixteen.

“Harley’s
mad at you,” she then stated. “You broke his heart.”

“I’ve
known him for less then twelve hours when all chaos started. I don’t apologize
for acting rationally,” I said, checking the state of my hair.

“Yeah,
but – “

“Let
me tell you something about the real world, Em,” I said.

“Emmy,
not Em. I hate Em.”

“There’s
no such thing as love at first sight. There’s lust. Lust turns into something
else later on. And since I didn’t feel lust for this guy when I first saw him
– which was in late November, I might add – I don’t feel much for
him. And why should I?” I asked.

“But
– this is a time when people live and die real quick. Shouldn’t, like,
love be this major factor of it all?”

I
snorted, pulling a pillow to me so I could rest upon it. “I want an Ellis, not
an Edward. I want Chris’ brutal intensity for survival, not Tom’s baby love for
seasonally named girls.”

Emmy
scrunched her face. Then pulled the dog to her so she could sleep next to it.
It groaned, as if it was reluctant to be her pillow, but laid there obediently.
“I don’t even know who you’re talking about.”

“I
want a bad-ass manly man, not a…” I sighed and gave up because, obviously, Emmy
didn’t care about that sort of thing. I stared at the drapes hanging over the
windows and wondered if Harley could hear us. The door was open. I’d heard him
rustling around in the living room earlier. “Never mind.”

I
was starting to think that getting to Reno was going to be impossible. It was
so close, yet so far. I started thinking that perhaps the reason why there
weren’t so many people around was that they were being gathered – those
soldiers had tried to kill us. And the obvious, based on what Harley was told,
was that we were possibly infected with a virus the aliens unleashed on us
months earlier. A virus activated by their whims and needs.

I
was possibly over thinking things, but based on all these games I’d played and
the movies I watched, it made perfect sense. What if the evacuation centers in
Sparks, Reno, weren’t evacuation centers but killing grounds to those that
weren’t vaccinated?

Emmy
fell asleep some time later, but my mind was way too busy to allow myself to do
the same. I figured I’d go and bug our Point Man for that. I chuckled to myself
as I left the bedroom, dragging my feet on the floor. I knew Harley was still
awake the closer to I got to the living room because I heard books fluttering.
Even with the noise I was making, I still managed to startle him into dropping
the book he’d been looking at to the floor.

“I
can’t sleep,” I said, picking it up and handing it over, taking a seat at the
end of the couch so that my voice wouldn’t wake Emmy.

After
I settled in, pulling a pillow atop of my lap, I waited for his sullen
expression to fade and watched as he flipped through a women’s health magazine.
I shared with him the theories I’d thought of earlier. The battery operated
clock hanging above a fireplace that still had ashes in it told me it was
nearly one in the morning. I was physically tired, but mentally awake.

“It
sounds…possible,” he finally said. “They were planning on dropping us off there
and moving on.”

“Do
you think the government knew about it months before, that this virus was
alien, but didn’t say anything so they didn’t startle the public? Instead, they
constructed a vaccine for their more ‘valuable’– “

“First
off, we don’t even know the entire truth. For all I know, that guy could’ve
lied to me that entire time!” Harley exclaimed, then lowered his voice.

“True…that’s
true,” I said slowly, furrowing my brow. “But it was said during a moment in
battle when he thought he was going to die, right?”

“Well…yeah…I
mean, the vehicle were hiding under was being pummeled by those things,” he
said uncomfortably. “For a guy that’s been overseas several times in over a
decade, he was pretty sure he was going to die.”

“So,
it was basically a dying declaration.”

“But
we
didn’t
die.”

“It’s
close enough, Harley,” I said with a sigh. I stared up at the ceiling while he
continued to flip through the magazine with a slight huff. I played with my
hair, twirling the ends for a few moments before saying low, “I’ve got to get
home. I think that in an event like this, dad would get in touch with his
buddies. He’s very protective of mom and I, y’know.”