Desolate: The Complete Trilogy Part 20

"A two-bedroom suite but no air conditioning? I want my money back," said Soo.

"No TV either," Ann chuckled. "No phone. No Facebook." Her smile slowly faded. "No nothing."

They stood there for a moment in the darkness, a single flashlight beam illuminating the room. Soo put her arm around Ann.

Emily tugged on the bottom of Howard's shorts and looked up at him. "What's Facebook?"

Nine.

s...o...b..oke the surface, her lungs aching for air and her eyes stinging from the salt water. She took in a deep breath of cool morning air and treaded water. It seemed like yesterday that she and her older brother had breath-holding contests in the pool at the Y. No matter how hard she tried, he would beat her every time, holding out until she came up for air and then surfacing himself with a big grin on his face.

After he left for summer camp one year, Soo spent practically the whole six weeks in the bathtub, working on squeaking out a couple more seconds under water. By the time he got back, her best time was two minutes, thirteen seconds. Not bad for a ten-year-old girl, even if she said so herself. She nagged her brother to take her to the pool the moment he walked in the door so she could finally beat him and bask in the glory.

Unfortunately, Soo never got a chance for a rematch because her brother found true love while at camp. He met a girl from another school who happened to live just a few miles away and spent the rest of the summer with her.

Angry at being abandoned by her brother, Soo convinced her parents she was old enough to go to the Y by herself, and she hit the pool with a vengeance. Her two minutes, thirteen seconds soon turned into three minutes and beyond. She taught herself and perfected various swim strokes, spending so much time in the pool that summer, she earned the nickname Squid from her brother. Much to her chagrin, the nickname stuck and quickly expanded beyond her own family.

By the time she reached high school, she'd been Squid Kim for so long that many of her cla.s.smates had to stop and think for a moment if somebody asked her real name. Squid dominated the high school swim team and made varsity as a freshman. By the end of her junior year she was courted by practically every university in the country with a Division 1 swimming program.

Her bright future, filled with scholars.h.i.+p offers to any school she choseaand possibly Olympic golda ended abruptly one night when she was seventeen. Her friend Stacy drove Soo and two other friends home after a party at Mike Anderson's house. His folks were out of town. Stacy swore she was okay to drive. Soo and the other girls didn't protest.

The next thing Soo remembered was waking up in a hospital, surrounded by her family and feeling like every single bone in her body had been pulverized. She suffered a broken pelvis, three broken ribs, a compound fracture in her right femur, and a thirteen-inch laceration on her right arm that the doctors feared might have caused nerve damage. Stacy was p.r.o.nounced dead at the scene. Her two friends in the back seat fared much better. Tammy walked away virtually unscathed and Christy walked out of the ER that night with a black eye and a chipped tooth.

Scholars.h.i.+ps evaporated as quickly as they had arrived as Soo worked through painful months of recovery and physical therapy. It was during this time she grew to respect and form bonds with the nursing staff. When she graduated at nineteen, a year late due to months of missed school, her dreams of a life in the water were behind her. She enrolled in the School of Nursing at UCSF, paying tuition with financial aid and a savings bond from her grandmother. Her uncle hired her to help out with his fis.h.i.+ng business in the summers, paying her a little over market value as a favor to the family.

Soo slowly swam toward the beach, taking her time to enjoy the warm water against her skin. With no running water in the hotel, they had their choice of the pool or the sea to wash in. For Soo, it was no contest. Her feet hit the sand and she emerged from the water, hurrying to wrap her towel around her naked body.

She sat down on the nearest deck chair on the beach and wrung the water out of her hair. It had been four weeks since they'd arrived at the resort and at least twice that long since she'd washed it with shampoo. There were literally hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny bottles in the housekeeping store rooms, but she'd held off and stuck with simply rinsing her hair in the salt water. It was softer and more manageable than it had ever been, and she rolled her eyes thinking of the fortune she'd spent on hair products over the years.

Soo caught herself daydreaming and glanced up and down the beach. It was clear, as usual, but stupid of her to let her guard down. The last person they had seen near the resort was a man who pa.s.sed by on the beach over a week ago. They watched him from behind the windows but he didn't even spare a glance at the building. He had an a.s.sault rifle over his shoulder and pulled a wagon of supplies behind him on the hard, wet sand close to the water's edge. As far as those creatures, they'd been lucky. So far, it appeared none had come this far from the city yet.

She heard a catcall whistle behind her and spun around. Howard stood on the patio and gave her a wave before heading inside. She smiled at him and cinched her towel tighter, feeling foolish and wis.h.i.+ng she'd gotten up a little earlier for her morning dip. She picked up the handgun Dave insisted they carry anytime they went outside, and headed up the beach.

A little over a week ago Dave and Howard started patrolling the areas in the vicinity of the resort to try to get a read on what was happening out there. They broke into the local police precinct and loaded up on guns and ammunition. Now that they had more time, Dave properly trained them on how to shoot the 9mm pistol she carried as well as the AR-15 a.s.sault rifles. They'd handled and fired guns in the city when things went to h.e.l.l, but Dave had gotten all "sergeant" on them. He insisted that if he was bunking with "a pair of gun-toting gals" then they'd learn the safe Marine Corps way to shoot. They only dry fired the guns on the beach for fear of attracting attention, but she felt more confident than ever that she could protect herself when the time came.

"I don't know how you're going to get any work done being so close to the ocean, Squid." It was one of the last things her brother had said to her the last time they'd talked on the phone. It was a couple of days before she left for Jamaica, just a few months earlier.

"You're right, but what do you want me to do? Get a job in Chicago and move in with you? You can't even swim in the lake in the middle of August without dying from hypothermia," she'd joked. "And I thought the bay was cold!"

She'd applied for the job on a whim, not happy with the way her career was going and looking to get some distance between herself and her overbearing parents. A day barely pa.s.sed without her mother reminding her she was almost thirty and still not married. If only she would have reconsidered. Maybe if she was still at home...

Soo padded across the patio with bare feet, her key in one hand, the gun in the other. Howard appeared behind the gla.s.s and opened the door for her. "Hey! How was the swim?"

"No complaints. How was the patrol? Did you guys find anything?"

He nodded toward the lobby. "We were just about to meet in the suite to talk about it. You coming?"

"Um, yeah." She glanced down at her bare legs. "I better throw something on first." She looked up and caught Howard staring.

He cleared his throat and his face turned red. "Yeah. Good idea. Why don't you do that?" He jabbed his thumb in the opposite direction. "I'll be in there with the others if you need me. Not that you need me to get dressed, of course." He squinted his eyes shut and pinched his nose. "I'm just going to shut up and leave now."

Soo nodded and bit her lip to keep from laughing. "Okay. See you in a bit." She hurried off to her room.

Howard spun around and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Real smooth," he whispered to himself.

They met at the dining room table in the Royal Suite. The suite was where the group spent most of their time since it was on the first floor and close to the lobby and hotel kitchen. In addition to the living room and two bedrooms, the suite had a fully functional kitchen where they did all their cooking. It was easier to transport the food they needed from the pantry and freezer to the normal-size and familiar kitchen of the suite.

Dave and Howard had figured out how to isolate circuits for the generators in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Instead of wasting precious fuel to provide electricity for the entire resort, they were able to power the breakers for the walk-in freezer, the lobby, and half of the first block of guest rooms on the main floor. By running the generator for a few hours a day, they were able to save most of the frozen food and enjoy the luxury of electric conveniences for a little while each day.

The only thing they didn't have was running water. The Caribbean Sea offered an unlimited supply but was no good for drinking or cooking. The pool water had been fresh, but was now not only heavily chlorinated but stagnant, and growing funkier every day. Fortunately for them, the Royal Gardens Beach Club and Spa Resort underwent a "green" initiative a few years ago. One of the projects was to capture the rainwater from the building's gutters into cisterns for the gardeners. Two large plastic tanks on the corners of the building (cleverly disguised behind ivy-covered lattice) held hundreds of gallons of rainwater. All they had to do was boil the water in one of the huge soup pots found in the restaurant's kitchen, and they were good to go. For now, the natural gas flowed unfettered to the building so cooking was no problem.

Soo walked into the suite wearing a T-s.h.i.+rt and capri pants from the gift shop. Howard poured a cup of coffee and handed it to her. Dave sat at the table sipping his own cup. He was fully recovered from his wounds and looked good. They all did, as a matter of fact. The peace and comfort of their little corner of the hotel and three square meals a day did them all a world of good. Even Howard managed to put on a few pounds and no longer complained about his surgery site.

Emily happily munched on a bowl of corn flakes, reconst.i.tuted powdered milk running down her chin. Ann had braided her hair with colorful beads she found in the arts and crafts room and they pinged off the side of the bowl as she bent forward to eat. She looked up and smiled at Soo with those big, bright eyes. Emily had warmed up to her after a few days at the resort, and Soo found she was falling head over heels for the little girl.

Sitting at that table with her little "family" in their five-hundred-dollar-a-night suite and sipping on freshly brewed Colombian coffee, it was easy to pretend everything was normal. That this would last forever. The look in Dave's eyes said otherwise.

"So me and Howard went out pretty early this morning, before sunup, in the LEAF."

The resort sported a brand new Nissan LEAF electric car a another green initiative purchase. It was perfect for quietly searching the area and could be charged using the hotel generators.

"We didn't see any of those things, which is good, but we didn't see any people either."

"They could just be hiding," Ann suggested. She sat down at the end the of table. "I mean, that's what we're doing, right?"

"That's true, but I think it's safe to say that shantytown in front of the hospital got thinned out. Really thinned out. We all saw firsthand how vicious those thing are." He glanced over at Emily, enjoying her cereal and oblivious to the conversation. "I don't think too many people got away."

"Obviously, not all of the survivors made it to Oswald in the first place," Howard said. "It's a big island. But as for people around here...besides that guy on the beach, we haven't seen anybody else."

Dave pulled a folded map of Jamaica from his back pocket. "We need to start thinking long term. I think it's a good idea to get as far away from Mo' Bay as possible." He unfolded the map and jabbed his index finger on the eastern half of the country. "We could set up here in the national park or maybe farther east near Moore Town. Plenty of remote areas. It would take some time and a h.e.l.l of a lot of work, but we could probably get some gardens going. Work on getting some livestock together. A cow or two, some chickens. Maybe a few pigs."

"Wouldn't it make sense to settle closer to the coast?" Howard asked. "We could do all that plus have access to fresh seafood."

"What are you guys talking about?" Ann said. "Why would we leave when we have all this?" She waved her hands around the room. "I grew up in an apartment building. I don't know s.h.i.+t about farming!"

"It's not safe here, kiddo," Dave said. "Eventually we're gonna run out of food and fuel for those gennys in the bas.e.m.e.nt."

"Don't kiddo me. You're not my f.u.c.king dad," she snapped. "Don't we get a say in this?"

"Ann, I'm sorry." Dave reached over and tried to put his hand over hers but she pulled it away. "Those things are barely ten, fifteen miles away and may be getting closer. Pretty soon they're gonna run out of prey in the city and start branching out. All it takes is one of *em to get in here."

"s.h.i.+t, I'm wit' her." Tre scowled. "I don't know no-ting about no pigs."

Ann's frown melted and her lower lip started to quiver. "I just wanna go home." Soo leaned over and comforted her.

"I see your point, Dave," Soo said. "But farming? Hiding out in the woods? Can't we just concentrate on finding other survivors? We can find plenty of weapons and there's strength in numbers. We could make some sort of, I don't know, fortress or something until we kill all those things."

"Hon, some of the survivors I've come across since s.h.i.+t went down ain't much better than those creatures out there. Tre, you know I'm right about that, man. There's exactly five people in the world I trust right now and every single one of *em is sitting at this table."

Tre crossed his arms and s.h.i.+fted his weight in the chair but said nothing. Soo let out a big sigh.

The only sounds in the room were Ann's sniffles and the clink of metal spoon against bowl as Emily finished breakfast.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and looked around the table. "Why don't we just go to *Merica?"

Howard looked up. "Go where?"

"Mummy said someday we to go *Merica, after she saved up enough money. She say we live in a big house and I'd have lots of toys and my own room." She looked hopefully at Howard and then Dave. "Can't we go dere?"

"The airport's all shut down and that's one heck of a long swim." Dave playfully punched Emily on the arm.

Ann's face lit up. "We don't need to swim! Didn't you see all those boats down at the marina? There are dozens of them." She flipped the map over, showing the entire Caribbean Sea and the southern tip of Florida. "Look! It's not that far. They have to be better off in the States. They just have to be!"

Dave frowned at the map. "Yeah, that's only about 500 hundred miles to Miami as the crow flies. But look. There's big ol' Cuba in the way. We'd have to sail around that and it would take twice as long."

"It's possible," Ann protested. "It's something."

"And what if it ain't? What then? Then are you gonna wanna find a way to hump a thousand miles north to your hometown because you're convinced things have to be better in Canada?"

"Guys, please," Howard pleaded. "Let's not fight about it. Ann, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to agree with Dave."

"Big surprise," she muttered.

"Now wait," Soo said. "Ann is right. It is possible. I saw some of the boats she's talking about down there. Fifty-, sixty-, even hundred-foot yachts."

"I don't know about you, but I don't know a d.a.m.n thing about boats," Howard said. He looked at Dave and Tre. Both shook their heads.

"Well, I do. I may just look like a nurse but I know my way around the bridge of a s.h.i.+p. Well, a fis.h.i.+ng boat anyway."

"Get out of here," Dave mused.

"I spent four summers during college working for my uncle on his salmon troller up near Vancouver Island. It was a sixty footer and he taught me a lot."

"No s.h.i.+t?"

"No s.h.i.+t. My father thought it was the perfect character-building experience, even though my mother was convinced it would somehow hurt my chances at landing a husband. I guess she could have been right."

"And you're saying if we got one of those boats up and running you'd be able to navigate it back to the States?" Howard asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

Ann slapped the table. "See? I told you we can do this!"

Dave rubbed his face and stared at the map. "I don't like it. I think it's dangerous, and even if we made it, we'd be in the exact same situation. Only in Florida."

"You don't know that."

"Tre, you're the only one here besides Emily from this country. What do you think?"

Tre shook his head and stared at the table. "Dunno, mon. No reason for me to stay here but I don't like no boats neither."

"Pleeease?" Emily pleaded.

"Look, I ain't the boss around here and I don't pretend to be." Dave looked around the table. "But I take everybody's safety very seriously. We need to take this slow and think it through. Look at it from all angles. Okay?"

"Will I get my own room?" Emily asked.

"Hey!" Howard feigned being insulted. "I thought you liked being my roommate. And you even have that big queen-size bed to yourself."

Emily looked at Howard and thought for a moment before answering. "Yeah, but you snore and fart sometimes at night."

Howard's face reddened for the second time that morning as everybody had a good laugh at his expense.

Ten.

Once again, she caught the scent trail too late. Once again, she was tardy for the kill and would go hungry. The teasing coppery scent of blood hung heavy in the air as she wavered, knowing it was no use trying to get closer to the kill. Dozens already fought over the sc.r.a.ps and it would be over in seconds. It wasn't worth getting injured.

She got her hopes up when she first noticed the trail. It had been days since her last kill, a skinny and foul-tasting feline. It was the fresh flesh of man she craved, and when she smelled not one, but two, she squealed in antic.i.p.ation. That's when the screaming began and she knew it was too late. She was a fool to think she was the only one to pick up the trail, and now that the prey called out in fear, others would be on them in no time.

As the frenzy died down and the fortunate ones left satisfied, the unlucky, slow, and weak moved forward. They searched for an overlooked sc.r.a.p of meat, a single drop of blood, and found nothing.

She turned away, disappointed and frustrated. Something would have to change soon or she would go hungry and fall to be sustenance for the stronger ones. She had already fed on some of the weaker ones herself, but it was man she was after. The sweet taste of flesh and bone, sinew and entrails.

She spent the rest of the day roaming the outskirts of town, giving up on man for the time being and searching for lesser beasts. She found and killed a rat that only made her hunger worse. She was just about to give up and turn back to shadow the others, and hope to profit from their fortunes, when she caught another scent.

It was extremely faint. She wasn't even sure if it truly was the scent of man. She got low to the ground and breathed deeply, opening her mouth and tasting the air with her tongue. Yes. It was there, in this...no...the other direction. Getting stronger. Two of them. Two scents of men, side by side, intertwined in a delicious concoction of sweat and dander. She moved slowly down the road, keeping her face to the surface for fear of losing the trail. She clucked in antic.i.p.ation as it grew stronger and then...stopped.

The trail went cold, right at the very spot of tarmac beneath her. She squealed in frustration, stomping her feet and spinning, desperate to find the trail again. She was so upset that the other scent mixed with the man went unnoticed at first. It wasn't quite as strong, but steady nevertheless, leading down the road from where the trail went cold.

It was the scent of one of those machines, the machines that gave man such an unfair advantage, a layer of protection and incredible speed their unprotected bodies could not match. So the trail did not go cold. It was the scent of the machine she needed to follow. It was difficult, since the parts that touched the surface left considerably less stench than the scent of man, but it was there. She could follow it.

She headed down the road slowly, careful not to veer from the trail for fear of losing it altogether. She pa.s.sed others just as hungry and desperate as she was.

They watched her for a moment before deciding to follow. No scent of man was nearby but this one was on the trail of something. With nothing to lose, they decided to follow.