“Kind of a lame plan.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a plan.”
“Wake me up at midnight,” Danny said and slipped into his sleeping bed and closed his eyes.
“Everyone get some sleep,” Will said. “God knows we all need some after last night.”
Vera looked up and gave him a thumbs up. The girl didn’t talk much.
He headed toward the front of the store, unslinging the M4A1 as he went. The rifle was now equipped with silver bullets and a night-vision sight he liberated from one of the shelves. It was a ridiculously expensive piece of equipment he would have loved to have in Afghanistan, but Uncle Sam would never have shelled out that kind of money.
Shadows moved across the front glass doors as he arrived. Too many. Way too many. They could fire every single bullet and they wouldn’t make a dent in the enemy’s numbers.
Stay quiet. Survive. Come up with a plan tomorrow.
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
He took out some granola bars and bit into one. It wasn’t bad, but he doubted the health claims on the packet. Two or three were enough to fill him up, and there was plenty of water in refrigerators around the store. Warm, yeah, but water was water. He took a sip of some generic energy drink. Like drinking warm piss.
He glanced at his watch, the digits glowing in the darkness. 7:15 p.m.
He was thinking about Harold Campbell again when he heard movement behind him. He didn’t have to turn his head to know who it was. Women smelled differently than men — better, even when they hadn’t taken a shower in a few days.
Carly sat down next to him and took out a bag of Doritos. He flinched. The sounds of her crunching in the pitch darkness were like gunshots. “Want one?”
He held up the remaining half of his nutrition bar.
“How’s the taste?” she asked.
“Like week-old grass.”
“Yum.” She emptied the Doritos bag, crumpled it up, then tossed it into a nearby trashcan. She brought out a box of Pringles from somewhere and offered it to him. “Don’t be shy.”
“How’s the taste?”
“Definitely not like week-old grass.”
“I’ll pass for now.”
“Your loss.” She popped them into her mouth. More gunshots in the darkness. “By the way, thanks for not shooting us.”
He smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“We weren’t sure. Ted and me. We took a really big risk looking for you guys. I heard you driving past our building earlier in the day.” She explained to him why she hadn’t tried to flag him down.
“We wouldn’t have heard you anyway,” Will said. “The siren was too loud.”
“I figured.” She shook out another handful of Pringles. “I’ve been meaning to ask…”
“The silver?”
“Yeah. How did you and Danny know about it?”
He told her about their last stand in the Wilshire Apartments, and the discovery of the silver, left behind by the former tenants of Apartment 1009.
“A cross, huh?” she said. “I guess it’s true what they say. God works in mysterious ways. You think he has something to do with it?”
“He?”
She pointed up at the ceiling. “You know, he.”
“I was raised agnostic, so I guess sure, it’s possible.”
“But you don’t believe it.”
“I’ve seen too much.”
“Danny said you guys were in Afghanistan together.”
“Yeah.”
“Can I see it?”
He took out the cross from the sheath he once used for his combat knife. It didn’t really look like a cross anymore. He had sanded down the two long sides to make them resemble the guard on a knife and honed the sides into a double-edge blade. Plastic wrapped around everything past the guard to make the handle easier to grip.
She took it with reverence and gripped the handle as if she were holding a small sword. “I don’t know how you didn’t instantaneously convert after discovering something like this. I’d have been on my knees.”
He smiled at the imagery. “How long have you been taking care of your little sister?”
“Oh my God, I don’t remember. It’s been a while. Our mom…she tries, you know, but it’s hard for her. She’s on social security disability. Not that you could tell there’s anything wrong with her. I think she got some scumbag lawyer to do some papers for her, and now she’s living off the government. Yes, you’re looking at someone who has been sucking on the government teat most of her life.”
He chuckled. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re just a kid.”
“I’m nineteen.”
“Like I said…”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ve been taking care of Vera since she could walk. You wouldn’t know it to look at her, but she’s very smart. Way smarter than me at her age, anyway.”
“She likes her coloring books.”
“That’s like saying air is good for you. She goes through them like her life is at stake, but only when she knows I have the money to buy her new ones. She can sense if I’m running low, then she makes them last.”
“Smart girl.”
“Yup.” She paused for a moment. “Hey.”
“Hmm?”
“You think we would date if we weren’t surrounded by blood-sucking creatures from the deepest bowels of hell?”
Will grinned. Another great use of imagery. “Sure, why not.”
“Gee, try to put a little enthusiasm into it, jerk.” She took another chip from the can. She didn’t say anything for a while, and he listened to her chewing in the darkness.
Still too loud…
“You married?” she asked.
“No.”
“Ever been married?”
“Nope.”
“You like girls, right?”
“Sure.”
“Weird that you’ve never been married. What are you, thirty?”
“Twenty-nine.”
“No girl ever snatched you up?”
“Not yet.”
“Let me guess. You’re a player.”
Another fine image. It was also the first time someone had ever called him that. “No. I’ve just never met the right woman.”
“Gonna be difficult now.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah.”
“Hey,” she said.
“What?”
“What are the chances we’re going to live through the week?”
“They’re not great.”
“Couldn’t you at least sugarcoat it a bit?”
“Sorry. I meant to say, they’re pretty good.”
“Yeah?”
“Not really.”
“God, you suck.” She held out the Pringles can again. “Chips?”
“Sure.”
He took one. Sour cream exploded against his taste buds. Not half bad, as it turned out.
“What’s that French word about seizing the day?” she asked.
“Carpe diem. And it’s actually Latin.”
“I knew it had to be one of the two. So what I’m saying is, you think Danny’s into me?”
He smiled again. Somehow he knew that question was coming. “Are you interested?”
“He’s cute.”
“Is that a yes?”
“That’s a yes.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s into you.”
“Yeah?”
“You want me to pass him a note? I’ll pretend I need to talk to him after class, get him alone in the hallway, then slip it to him. Just like that. No one will notice.”
“You’re such an asshole,” she said and punched him in the shoulder.
She sat with him for another hour, asking him questions about Danny. By eight-thirty he was alone in the darkness again, finishing off her box of Pringles. Sour cream. Who would have thunk it.
Around midnight, Danny tapped him on the shoulder. “How’s it going?”
“It’s going.”