Hope And Undead Elvis Part 25

Josh entered the room with a tray.

"Don't hurt me again," Hope whimpered.

"Cooperate, and I won't have to. If I have to fight you again, I promise you that Duce will send in other men to do the same until you go into labor." He shut the door and set the tray down on the end of the bed.

"G.o.d, he'd really do that?" asked Hope.

"Yes," whispered Josh. "He's made no secret of it. There are a lot of men here who want to be rewarded for starting your delivery. A lot of them."

Hope s.h.i.+vered at the idea of a parade of rapists coming through her room. She was already a little afraid of s.e.x, which was why she'd avoided it her entire life, and the possibility of a gang-rape made her feel lightheaded. "If I was going to have this baby that way, I'd want you to be the one," she said. "You've been really nice."

Josh blushed beneath his beard. "I'm not like this most of the time. Duce put me on the inventory a.s.sessment crew because I pay attention to detail and don't get swayed by emotional outbursts. The man is scary at how good he can identify people's strengths and weaknesses and exploit them."

"Why haven't you left before now?"

"Didn't have anywhere to go. Working for him kept me out of Down Below. Here, eat something. Keep your strength up." Josh uncovered the food tray to reveal a microwaved sandwich, thick with grease, a can of 7-Up, and a chocolate pudding cup. He held up the latter. "Last chocolate pudding in the world right here, I bet. This was in my own stash. I want you to have it."

Hope smiled at him and touched his hand. "Share it with me?"

"There's only one spoon," he said.

"It's okay. You've already raped me today. I think I don't have to worry about cooties from sharing a spoon."

Josh put his chin in his hands. "That's not even funny. I wouldn't ever do that. Ever. But they were going to send someone else to do it, and I couldn't let that happen. I pulled rank."

"I'm glad you did." Hope peeled back the foil cover from the cup and licked the fake chocolate from it. The artificial sweetness was far more prevalent then when she'd eaten them in the past, before the world ended. Nevertheless, it did taste good, and she ate it slowly, savoring every bite. She was careful to leave half of it for Josh.

"Duce is going to kill you after the baby's born," he said as he took the spoon from her. "I heard him discussing it with one of his other lieutenants. He's afraid of you."

Hope nodded. She had expected as much after her similar treatment at the convent. "Because I represent a threat to his power, right?"

"Something like that. I don't agree with that at all. I mean, Duce has done a lot of good things for people here. He's given them a place of safety."

"He's given them a place of slavery," said Hope. "Everyone in this building is beholden to him."

"I know. G.o.d, it's so hard to see the darkness when he's providing light."

Hope touched his hand. "There's a lot of darkness out there. I've seen it firsthand. And everywhere I've gone, it seems, the Righteous Flame is following after me."

"Who's that?"

"Bad, bad people. They're cannibals, driven by a religious zealot whose devotion is to burn the entire world. First I ran into them in a forest far away. I got past them, but then I wrecked my car. Woke up in a convent, of all places. The sisters there were just as bad, in their own way. They were trapped in their beliefs, and were letting one of their own murder them one by one to stretch out their food supplies."

"G.o.d, that's horrible!"

"Their leader wanted to take my baby for herself too. Before she could, I don't know, put me back into a coma again, the Righteous Flame attacked the convent. They..." She sniffled as she recalled the screams of the nuns as they were a.s.saulted and eaten.

Josh squeezed her hand and said nothing.

"I escaped with one of the nuns. We found a safe place to stay, with a man who was a mechanic. He and the nun wound up falling in love. And get this. He was Muslim. A Muslim and a Christian loving each other without their religions getting in the way."

"Sometimes people fall in love. It doesn't make any sense, but they do."

"I know." Hope realized Josh was still holding her hand. She looked up at him. He blushed again and drew his hand back.

"Where are your friends now?"

"I don't know. Safe somewhere to the south, I hope. The Righteous Flame found me again and we had to split up. I didn't want my friends to risk themselves traveling with me when the most evil people left in the world were following me." She sighed. "Somehow, they found each other in this broken world. They're having a baby too. I envy them."

"Why?"

She laughed softly. "I didn't get to enjoy the process of making a baby, Josh. I'm still a virgin."

He blinked. "You're what?"

"I wasn't pregnant before the world ended, and then I was."

Josh's mouth hung open in pure shock. "So whose baby is it, then?"

"I don't know. He's mine. Someone once told me he's got a destiny, to fix the world." Hope took a bite of the sandwich. It was gummy and salty and she needed the 7-Up just to wash it down.

"That's a pretty powerful thing to lay on an unborn baby," said Josh. "Or his mother."

"I know."

"So now you're alone again."

"I have Fidel. He watches over me. And Undead Elvis in the bas.e.m.e.nt. And even Margaret." She reached out and took his hand again. It was warm and rough, like he'd spent many years working with his hands. "And you, too."

"I'd... I'd really like to travel with you, if you'd let me."

Hope lowered her eyes. This man genuinely liked her, in spite of the mysterious baby in her belly, in spite of her stripper background, and even in spite of the dangerous zealots who seemed intent upon her destruction. It made her stomach feel all fluttery, like when her baby had been much smaller. He was being far more active than normal. "We'd like that," she said softly. "Here, want to feel?"

She guided Josh's hand to the curve of her belly. His eyes widened as he felt the baby kick at her side. "That's amazing," he whispered.

His eyes rolled up from staring at her stomach to meet hers, and she saw something in them she'd never seen before. She knew what l.u.s.t looked like, for she'd seen it every night on the stage in the eyes of the men with their dollars folded in little tents at the edge of the platforms. She knew the look of disdain from club owners as they handed over compensation for s.h.i.+fts, never enough and never without strings attached. She even recognized anger and hatred, which had been the most common glances she saw in her life. But this look had never been directed at her. The closest she could approximate was when Nur had looked at Rae.

Was this love?

She couldn't tear her eyes away from his. Being lost in his eyes was a cliche phrase that belonged in a trashy romance novel, but for the first time in her life, Hope understood that the cliche was based in reality. She reached up to touch her hand to the side of his face. His beard was soft and tickled her palm. His hand came up as well, snaking around the back of her neck to twist his fingers into her hair.

He bent his head towards hers, and she tilted her chin up to welcome him.

A loud banging at the door made them both jump back like they'd scalded each other. "Hey, loverboy, you ain't getting' paid for pillow talk," called a rough voice. "Shoot your load and get the f.u.c.k out. Duce's orders."

Josh stood. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Lost track of the time."

"It's okay," said Hope. "I didn't mind at all." She held out her hand. "Help me up?"

He offered his hand to her and with a gentle tug, pulled her to her feet. "Be ready to go tomorrow morning. We'll get out of here. All of us."

Hope smiled at him. "That sounds lovely."

More banging at the door. "Hurry up, a.s.shole."

"I'm coming!" called Josh.

"Better be in her, dumba.s.s."

"I'm sorry they're such a.s.sholes," he said to Hope.

"It's okay. You're not like them, and I appreciate that."

"'Til tomorrow, then."

Hope took his head in her hands, pulled him down to her, and kissed him. His arms encircled her and they stood that way for a moment, melded together, their entire worlds shrunk down to only each other.

Then, looking a little surprised and pleased, and a bit out of breath, Josh pulled away and opened the door. Hope watched him leave and then hugged herself since he wasn't there to do it for her. He'd tasted like chocolate pudding.

He'd tasted like love.

Chapter Thirty-Seven.

Hope and the Wheelchair Sometime in the morning, a loud bang echoed through the Casino, and the lights went out. With bright sunlight streaming in through her windows, Hope didn't notice the lack of electricity until she heard the fearful screams of residents in the darkened hallways, stairwells, and the gaming floor itself.

She felt her pulse quicken. Was this part of Josh's plan? She didn't have any personal effects in the room except her winter coat, which she shrugged into. She gave the room a quick once-over anyway to see if there was anything she felt she should take. There wasn't. She cracked open the door. One of the guards was gone, either on business or he'd abandoned his post. The other remained, but his attention was on the shadowy people staggering through the darkened hallway and the haze of smoke that filled the air.

"What is it? What's happened?" Hope asked him.

"I don't-Jesus, he really worked you over." The man gaped at her swollen, bruised cheek.

"I do what I'm told," said Josh as he came around the corner. He was pus.h.i.+ng Margaret's wheelchair, but without Margaret in it. "And so should you, Brian. Shades needs manpower downstairs to fight the fire. Go help him."

"What about her?" Brian gestured to Hope.

"Duce wants me to take her to a safe place. He won't risk the baby."

"No, please," said Hope. "Don't make me go with him."

Brian looked doubtful, perhaps on the verge of disobeying a direct order. Hope wondered if she'd overdone the victim bit. All they needed was for him to get involved in some way, complicating Josh's plan.

"Brian," said Josh. "Downstairs. Now."

Brian shrugged and headed for the stairwell. He glanced back once. "Good luck with your baby," he said.

"Thanks," said Hope. She sank down into the wheelchair. "Where's Margaret?"

"She's waiting in your car," said Josh. He bent down and kissed her, hard and fast, with tender urgency. Then he handed the Shepherds' pistol to her. She checked it. There was only one bullet left. The other was missing. She wondered what had happened to it, and if it was the one Nur had given her or the one from the Shepherds. "I hope you don't have to use it."

"Me too. I don't like guns very much."

"Me either." Josh leaned against the wheelchair and started it rolling. "Doesn't stop me from carrying one."

"What happened downstairs?"

"A short and a fire. Shades has a crew fighting it."

"What about Undead Elvis?"

"Shades is getting him."

In the darkness of the Casino floor, Hope could see the shadows of people fighting each other over loose chips. Grudges were being settled behind the banks of silent slot machines. She could hear the thuds of fists on flesh, the wet slaps and stifled moans of women being brutalized, and the groans of men bleeding their life out onto the carpet. Hope shook her head. Duce's little capitalist empire had been so fragile that it had only taken the sudden onrus.h.i.+ng darkness to bring the whole thing into collapse. She tried hard not to look too closely at what was going on around her as Josh wheeled her across the floor. She'd have enough nightmares to last her the rest of her life, but she had to get away, to the safety of Graceland so she could have her baby. The others in the Casino would have to sort themselves out.

She hoped the ones who survived wouldn't turn out to be the monsters.

A spectre materialized from the darkness to confront Josh and Hope. It was Chris, the s.a.d.i.s.tic man who Hope had seen watching over the bas.e.m.e.nt work crews. His face was coated in a sheen of soot mixed with sweat. "Where's Shades?" he shouted over the noise in the Casino.

"Downstairs," said Josh.

Chris shook his head. "Haven't seen him since the fire started."

"He's in charge of the fire crew."

"I got news for you. Ain't n.o.body in charge down there, 'cept maybe me."

"Then why are you up here?"

"Somebody's got to tell The Deuce what's going on."

"Tell me. I'm taking her to him now. I'll pa.s.s along your report so you can get back down there." He paused. "You better hope Shades isn't dead for all our sakes. He's the only one who can fix stuff down there."

Hope groaned. "Hurry. I think the baby's coming." She began breathing hard and fast.

Chris looked down at her, as if seeing her and her pregnancy for the first time. "Tell Duce that the junction box blew. s.h.i.+t's burned and melted, and we got three, mebbe four dead workers. Fire's not too bad, but we might not have power for a long time. Longer if Shades ain't still suckin' air."

"All right, I'll pa.s.s it along," said Josh. "I've got to get her to safety."

Chris nodded and trotted off into the blackness.

"You're not really having the baby now, are you?" whispered Josh in Hope's ear.