“Now spit it out,” said Max. “I’m starting to lose patience with you. What’s bothering you?”
John shifted his weary gaze from the ground to Max. “You’re thinking of going, aren’t you?”
Max didn’t speak for a moment.
The truth was that he didn’t know himself. Up until that moment, that is. No one had asked him. He hadn’t had to give an answer before now. And now he found that his mind was already made up.
He nodded.
“It’s crazy,” said John. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”
Max shrugged. “I’ve been fine so far.”
“Don’t feed me that line.”
“What line?”
“I just know what you’re about to say.”
“And how do you know that? You’re psychic now or something?”
“I’m your brother. We may not have spoken much…”
“Or at all.”
“The point is,” said John, “that I know you, and I know what you’re thinking, whether you believe me or not. I know how your mind works. You haven’t changed at all since you were a kid.”
Max sighed. “And what has the master psychologist figured out? What is it that I’m thinking?”
“You’re going down real deep into this whole fatalist savior thing,” said John. “You want to go save them. You think you can do it all. Only you don’t. You’re too smart to really think you can do it all. So with each scrape you get through…”
“Scrape?” Max raised an eyebrow.
John ignored him and continued. “You think you’re closer to the end. You understand probability. You know that…”
“I’m going to cut you off right there,” said Max. “There’s stuff to do. Just get to the point. I don’t have all day.”
John exhaled dramatically. “You can’t go, Max,” he said.
“I’m going,” said Max.
“Everyone’s got problems and you can’t solve them all. Especially now. The whole thing’s gone to shit. Everyone’s in some dire, desperate situation. It’s insane to think that…”
“We’re not talking about anyone,” said Max. “We’re talking about a kid.”
“Who you don’t even know!”
“I got the call,” said Max. “I know where to go. I know what to do. I’ve got a responsibility.”
“Like hell you do.”
“I’m not asking anyone else to risk anything,” said Max. “Which is why I’m going alone.”
“So you’re letting the rest of us fend for ourselves?”
“Things have calmed down,” said Max. “Unfortunately, people have started to die off. It’s been long enough since the EMP that insanity is starting to die down. The population rose exponentially, and it’s falling equally as fast. The farther we get from the event…”
“You have no way of knowing that. It’s all just theory.”
Max shrugged. “Everyone’s theory now. No one really knows what’s happening.”
“Well if you’re going, I’m going with you.”
Max stared at him. He hadn’t seen John this angry in years.
“Why the sudden change of heart? First you say I can’t go, and now you say you’re coming? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know you’re too stubborn to change your mind. The more I argue with you, the more you’ll want to go.”
“I’d like to think I’m a little more rational than that.”
Max had been keeping a cool head so far. He’d found that he could keep calm in some of the most intense and violent situations. But there was nothing like family to bring out the stronger emotions.
He felt the anger rising in him. He tried to suppress it, but it was there, starting to burn a hole in his chest.
They were both standing now, face to face. John stepped closer, his nose almost touching Max’s.
“Someone’s got to make sure you don’t get yourself killed,” said John. His voice was full of anger, but barely above a whisper.
“I’m going alone,” said Max. “You need to stay here. They need you.”
“They need you, Max. You’re the only reason everyone’s alive.”
Max had heard that before. He hated hearing it. He knew it wasn’t true.
The only way he could get John not to come was to insult him, to tell him he wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t true, but Max was going to say it anyway.
“You’re too much of a risk to take along,” said Max. “You don’t know what the hell you’re doing. You’ll just get yourself killed.”
John had had enough. It was all over his face. He said nothing.
Instead, he threw the first punch. It caught Max in on the cheek. Hard enough for his vision to go blurry for a second.
Max’s calm was gone. There was nothing but anger, unsolved family issues, his judgment clouded further by the blow.
Max threw himself forward, his body colliding with John. They both went down into the dirt, only a few feet from the fire.
“You bastard,” said John through gritted teeth.
Max was on top of him and John was trying his best to get out from underneath him. It was the same sort of scuffle they used to get into when they were both in high school.
“Max! John! What the hell are you doing?”
It was Mandy’s voice.
Neither one of them looked up.
Then came Georgia’s voice.
“That’s enough!” She spoke in a commanding, forceful way. It was enough to get them to stop, both of them looking towards her.
Georgia was doing a lot better. She stood there, fists on her hips, looking tall and strong. Not someone you wanted to trifle with.
2
Dan hadn’t slept all night. His eyes were blurred from lack of sleep and his body felt completely on edge. He was full of adrenaline. Full of that speedy sick feeling that never seemed to leave him.
He looked out the second story window onto the abandoned suburban street below. There was nothing. No movement.
The sun was rising slowly over the houses and overgrown lawns. His grandfather would be waking up right about now, as he always had ever since he’d been a young man, growing up on a farm. It was time to go check on him.
Dan picked the large kitchen knife up from where he’d rested it on the window sill, and walked wearily through the halls. They were lined with pictures of his family. His grandmother was there, countless neatly framed pictures that showed her progressing in age from a young woman to the grey-haired woman that Dan had grown up with.
She’d died two years ago, a devastating blow to his grandfather, who had never really recovered. His own health problems had seemed to snowball after that. His type two diabetes, once kept carefully in check through diet, had turned into an uncontrollable monster. There was no stopping it.
Especially not now.
The insulin had run out. There was no way to get more of it.
Dan’s grandfather’s days were numbered. And they both knew it.
Conspicuously absent from the wall of photos were pictures of Dan’s own parents. They’d had Dan young, and from what he had gathered over the years, it had probably been unexpected. They weren’t the types of people who made good parents. Or parents at all, for that matter. They’d split, leaving their own parents to raise Dan.
Dan didn’t even remember what they looked like.
He was a tough kid. He’d had to be. He’d endured countless taunts and jokes at his expense. That was just how he’d grown up. He’d been born small and grown up to be the shortest kid in his class by far.
A big part of his attitude had come from his grandfather, who’d not only always been there for him, but had told him that the only way he was going to get through life happy was if he took what he wanted from it, rather than waiting for someone to come around, feel sorry for him, and hand him things on a silver platter.