“Yeah,” I say carefully make my way to the man and hand him the bag of groceries. It is no loss to give it to him—we have more than enough to last us for weeks in the car. “Are you in the military?”
“Was…” The man says as he rummages through the bag. “Honorably Discharged from the war in Iraq… post traumatic stress disorder, depression, general anxiety disorder… I’m not one of those Unstables—but I’m just like them in a way… came up here to escape the hell that has become Flagstaff. Figured the uniform and this assault rifle I picked up here from a dead serviceman might keep me safe. Or at least, keep people intimidated.”
“It definitely it intimidating…” I say as I nod.
“Definitely intimidating…” Cherie says as she nods.
“I can have some of this?” The man asks as he looks to me with a strangely stern look upon his face.
“Can have some of this…”
“You can take the whole bag if you like,” I say as I nod.
“Whole bag if you like…”
I take Claire’s hand into mine and squeeze it. Now is not exactly a good time to do this—I know that she has no control over it… however, the timing sucks.
In return, she squeezes my hand just as hard. I suppose I deserved it.
“Why is she doing that?”
“Doing that?”
“She’s one of those… Mirrors isn’t she?” The man says as he continues to go through the different items of food.
“One… of those… Mirrors isn’t she?”
He does not seem very interested as he picks up one of the self heating meals. “Been a long time since I had anything decent… I brought some food up with me, thought I could do some hunting but haven’t been able to catch anything.”
“Haven’t been able to catch… anything…”
“She’ll stop if we don’t talk for a while,” I say as I allow Claire to hide behind me.
“Talk for a while…” She whispers as she places her arms around me.
“I’ll just eat then,” the man says as he nods. “…if you don’t mind?”
“Don’t mind…?” Cherie whispers.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
The man takes opens up the bag and finds the spoon. He places the pasta into his mouth and a smile spreads across his face as he quietly eats. He quickly finishes that one off and tears into another one—he seems elated. I begin to wonder how long he has been without a meal.
“I don’t mind,” the man says as he looks past me. “You don’t have to hide.”
“We’re just not used to… people being very understanding of our situation… exactly,” I say as I still remain a little apprehensive.
“Hell,” the man says he shakes his head. “I’m probably more messed up than she is. I spent years hiding in my house—sometimes I’d hear loud noises at night and I’d hide under my bed with my pistol in hand. Sometimes you go through some shit and it sticks with you—and this was all before V-day. I’m a bit more capable now. I guess my mind has switched back into soldier mode… keeping alive, survival. It keeps the mind busy, sharpened.”
“I’m Claire,” she whispers as she reaches from behind me and extends her hand to the rather intimidating man. “I repeat things… I get stuck in loops and my memory hurts.”
“It’s nice to meet you Claire,” the man says as he shakes her hand. “Robert Lemon.”
“Like the fruit?”
“Yeah,” The man adds with a short laugh. “I suppose so. Or maybe the fruit is like me—all bitter and a little yellow.”
“But you’re black,” Claire says.
I shake my head as I introduce myself, “Ethan…”
“Robert,” the man repeats as he shakes my hand firmly. “You’re a normal right?”
“I suppose so,” I say as I nod. “I used to be her Sitter.” I figure there is no point in attempting to hide who we are anymore—after all, I’m sure the Hunters and what, if anything, left of C-Shapes have much more pressing matters. “Now I’m…”
“We’re in love,” Claire adds as she smiles happily.
“Well that’s a first,” Robert Lemon says as he shrugs. “Whatever you’re into man… I once dated this chick when I got back, crazy as shit. Great in bed, but… couldn’t keep that up. Thought she’d knife me in my sleep or something…”
“She’s a lot more normal than…”
“I know, Mirrors…” Robert says he laughs. “I’m just fucking with ya. But what an interesting pair you two make. Where are you headed?”
“Somewhere safe,” Claire adds.
“Don’t know if there’s anywhere like that anymore,” Robert says as he shakes his head and places his pistol back into his holster. “What is your plan?”
“Claire has a secure house—only her family can enter and she’s the last of her family. Should be stocked up and it should be a place where I can take care of her.”
“And take care of our mission,” Claire adds.
I squeeze Claire’s hand. I feel as though I’ve given away too much already. We do not know if we can trust this man—he might be doing all this as an act.
“What’s your mission?”
“I had a friend,” I begin, despite my trepidations. “He said that C-Shapes was causing Unstables to go Aggro on purpose—to keep the population in fear so they’d keep buying Calm. Of course there would be the random Aggro, sometimes they just go… but anyway, he had this conspiracy idea that this cure—was eventually going to kill all the Unstables because everyone was getting tired of paying.”
“Sounds like more than just a theory…” Robert says as he takes a moment to take it all in. “You saw what they did to the White House? It’s gone… I hear the president is trapped beneath the rubble in some kind of shelter and he’s going slowly insane himself. C-Shapes, that place is gone as well. Someone made them all go Aggro at once on purpose—it seemed like a pretty surgical strike to me.”
“Yeah,” I say as I remember back to the footage. “So I guess my mission now is to get this info into the media’s hands or someone that can do something so people will stop killing the Unstables out of fear. It is the Calm that makes them worse—that will most likely cause them to go Aggro. With C-Shapes gone, and the supplies running low a lot of people are going to get very scared.”
“It’s already happening man,” Robert says as he shakes his head. “In Flagstaff you have people with guns running around killing Unstables, the Hunters… anyone affiliated with C-Shapes. Some people out there just killing other people… you got guys out there with signs that say it’s the end of the world, and fuck all if most people don’t believe it. It’s looting, constant fires…”
“I had no idea it was so widespread,” I say as I begin to wonder if I am on a fool’s errand. “I heard about Los Angeles…”
“It’s spread to Chicago… St. Louis, New York, Miami, New Orleans, Denver, and Las Vegas. I hear very few cities are still normal… I think Seattle is fine. Some of the northern states are being more rational. A lot of places are locking up their Unstables… it’s cruel but—it’s more humane than death.”
“I don’t even know what I’m doing…” I whisper as I realize that things are far worse than I thought.
“Well at least you’re doing something,” Robert says as he punches me in the shoulder. Although it isn’t very hard—my body has not exactly been treated very well lately. “Most people are hiding… present company included.”
“Yeah, but I have no idea how to get the info out there… I have a metal case I don’t know how to open—I’m suppose to give it to someone important—I don’t know who to trust,” I begin to list off all of the obstacles In my path. The more I talk about them the more impossible it sounds. “I got it from an Unstable, or a man pretending to be an Unstable… either way, I don’t even know who will listen.”