They were working on the second row of bodies. They’d already secured the first row with thick yellow straps.
Brad jumped down from the driver’s seat and walked over to where Ted and Sheila were lifting the body of a fat man in a bathrobe. They’d stomped down a path through the snow between the van and the sled, but Brad was cutting a new path through the powder as he approached.
“Can I take over for one of you guys?” Brad asked.
Sheila answered, “We’re fine, but you might want to help Lisa.” Sheila pointed her chin at the back of the van. In the gloomy interior, Brad saw Lisa dragging another body to the back edge of the moving van. Brad used the handle mounted on the side of the van and hoisted himself up onto the deck. He blinked at the darkness—eyes still squinting from looking across the snow—and helped Lisa slide another heavy man by his bathrobe.
“Who’s that?" Lisa asked.
“Who?” Brad asked. He looked up to see her pointing south, down the highway.
A dark figure stood in the snow about a hundred yards from their position.
“Nate,” Brad said, under his breath.
“Who?" Lisa asked, but Brad was already jumping down from the back of the moving van. Brad caught up with Ted and Sheila as they tossed their corpse up to Pete and Robby.
“Hey, guys,” Brad said. When he had their attention, he continued. “I think this guy might be trouble.” He didn’t point, but motioned with his eyes in the direction of the dark figure standing in the snow.
Pete dropped to one knee on the deck of the sled, bringing his head level with Ted’s.
“Who is it?" Ted asked.
“I’m not sure,” Brad said, “but it might be the guy Romie and I just met over at the Chinese restaurant.”
“So you talked to him?" Ted asked.
“If it’s the same guy, yes,” Brad said.
Robby climbed down from the sled and tromped off, cutting a new line through the snow. “I’m going to go meet him,” he called back over his shoulder.
“I’m right behind you,” Brad said.
As Brad walked away, he heard Sheila and Ted arrive at the conclusion that a two-person greeting party was probably enough. Brad glanced around for Romie—he hadn’t seen her since they pulled up to the convoy—but she wasn’t with the group.
Brad caught up to Robby as the boy slogged through the snow.
“Did you see where Romie went?” Brad asked Robby.
“She’s still in the truck you guys pulled up in,” Robby said.
Brad confirmed as they walked by the other moving van. Romie was still sitting there in the cab. She slid over to the driver’s side and she looked focused on the side-view mirror. She nodded to Brad and Robby as they walked past.
“She’s watching that guy,” Robby said softly.
“Yup,” Brad said.
“What did he say to you before?” Robby asked.
“Not much. He wanted to know where we were taking the corpses. I don’t know how he followed us. We went south and then looped back around before coming back here and we didn’t see him the whole time. When we left him, he was on foot in a parking lot. There was a cannibalized body in that restaurant. He might be responsible.”
Robby didn’t comment. They’d crossed about halfway to the man. The dark figure, who Brad still assumed was Nate, didn’t move. He stood between the tire tracks left by the moving vans. He flicked his long hair out of his face with a toss of his head. Robby and Brad stopped about ten feet away from him. It was Nate.
“Respectful,” Nate said.
“Hi, I’m Robby.”
“Nate,” the dirty man said. A breeze brought his odor to Brad. Nate smelled a bit like the nursing home corpses. It was a smell Brad had begun to associate with cold neglect. Brad traced Nate’s footprints through the snow. He hadn’t arrived on the highway; he came from the west.
“Hello again,” Brad said.
“Patch of woods?" Nate asked, gesturing to the sleds off in the distance behind Robby and Brad.
“It’s a long story,” Brad said, “and, frankly, we didn’t think you needed to know.”
“You could have said that,” Nate said. He tilted his head down towards the snow and then started violently shaking it, as he’d done outside the Chinese restaurant. Again, he kept going until they could hear Nate’s cheeks slapping against his teeth.
“Are you okay?” Robby asked.
Nate stopped instantly and looked up at the young man.
“Are you? Should any of us be, after all this?”
“We have to load these deceased onto these flatbed sleds there,” Robby said. “You’re welcome to help or we can talk with you while we work.” Robby gestured back to the group who stopped working to watch the conversation.
“I’d like to know what the hell you’re doing first,” Nate said.
“We’re taking all these people up north,” Brad said.
“Why?" Nate asked.
Brad looked to Robby.
“We think we can get rid of the thing growing up there,” Robby said. “If we trigger an immune response, we think we can get it to go away.”
“That’s a hell of an odd thing to say,” Nate said.
Robby shrugged.
Brad wanted to argue in Robby’s defense. He wanted to put the young man’s theory in context to convince Nate why he should take it seriously. But the silence seemed to belong to Robby and Nate alone; it wasn’t Brad’s to break.
A light breeze kicked up swirls of snowflakes, taking the hard edge off of the fresh footprints. Since Brad arrived in Portland, he hadn’t felt much wind. In fact, he wondered if he’d felt any wind at all. In Portland, everything was still. None of the snow drifted or melted under the perpetually gray skies. Could this breeze be the first breath of air he’d felt in a month?
Nate broke the silence—“Seems like grave robbery to me.”
“They weren’t buried,” Robby said. “And we’re going to inter them up north.”
“In a patch of woods, right?” Nate asked.
“Like he said, you didn’t need to know so they made the choice to tell you a lie. We’re not making any apologies for what we’re doing here. It’s the right thing to do,” Robby said.
“And if I help you move some of those dead, will you explain further what you intend to do with them?" Nate asked.
“Certainly,” Robby said. He turned and swept his arm towards the sled. “After you.”
Nate nodded and shuffled between Robby and Brad. As short-and-stocky Nate passed by, Brad caught a bigger noseful of the man. He smelled like he looked—greasy and sour. Robby and Brad followed him back towards the sled. As they passed Brad’s moving van, Brad looked up to see if Romie was still in the cab. He didn’t see her.
When they’d approached to a few dozen paces from the sled, everyone stopped working and grouped together to greet the new arrival.
“This is Nate,” Robby said.
“Hi,” Nate said, waving.
Brad stepped forward to make the introductions. “Nate, this is Sheila, Lisa, Ted, and Pete.”
“Where’s the other one?" Nate asked.
“Pardon?” Brad asked.
“The thick woman who was with you in the truck. Where did she get to?" Nate asked.
“Oh,” Brad said. “I’m not sure. She must be around here somewhere.”
“I’d like to talk to her again,” Nate said.
Brad glanced around the group to see if anyone else found this statement peculiar. Only Lisa seemed concerned; or at least more concerned. Ted’s eyes hadn’t slowed since Nate walked up. Ted scanned up and down Nate’s body, like he was just waiting for the new man to pull out a concealed weapon. Even Pete, who seemed to like everyone, displayed guarded, half-turned-away body language.