“Okay, Mr. Practical,” Kent said. “We took that step. What’s next?”
“We gotta find someplace to spend the night.”
“I have an idea,” Jon said.
Jon hadn’t been offering much. He was still the new kid and wasn’t all that social anyway. And he had nearly gotten us all killed, so hearing him volunteer an idea was strange.
“Let’s find another hospital,” he suggested. “There’s food and beds, and if they have a radio I can probably figure out how to get it running on the backup batteries.”
“You want to hear the broadcast again?” Tori asked.
“I want to make sure there still is a broadcast,” he replied. “It’s been over a week. I don’t want to drive a couple of thousand miles for nothing.”
“That’s really smart, Jon,” I said.
Jon beamed proudly, as if he had re-earned my trust.
For the record, he hadn’t. But he did have a good idea.
It didn’t take us long to find a huge hospital called Bay State Medical Center. We drove around until we found the entrance to the emergency room, the most likely place for a radio. We left the car in front, grabbed our gear, and headed inside.
Jon led the group as if he knew where he was going. I guess when you work in a hospital, you get a feel for how they’re set up. Within minutes we were behind the reception desk. Jon scanned the area and headed straight for a closed door. He opened it and…
“Gotcha!” he proclaimed.
There was a radio setup very much like the one at Maine Medical Center.
“Give me some time,” he said. “As long as they’ve got emergency power, I can fire this up.”
“I’m starving,” I said. “Let’s hit the kitchen to see what hasn’t spoiled.”
We left Jon to work and went hunting for the cafeteria. It took a while to find, but it was worth it. There was a pantry loaded with canned food. We also found sealed bags of taco shells and plenty of bottled water. We would eat well that night.
I opened the cold locker and immediately wished I hadn’t. The smell of rotting meat and vegetables made me gag. I closed the door quickly, grateful that the seal was tight enough to block the smell.
“Get used to that,” Tori said.
We cracked open a few cans and dished out tomatoes, peaches, and some processed meat that I probably would never have eaten in our previous life, but when you’re hungry, most everything tastes good. None of us cared about manners. We all just dug in and ate.
“Vitamins,” Tori said. “There’s probably a pharmacy where we can grab some multivitamins. It’s not like we’re going to be eating balanced meals.”
“Good idea, Mom,” Kent said and gave her a friendly hug. Too friendly, if you ask me, but nobody asked.
When we had eaten our fill, Tori loaded up a plate of food and headed out.
“For Jon,” she said and walked off.
“You know the great thing about eating like this?” Kent asked.
Olivia and I looked at him, waiting.
“No clean up!” He tossed his plate onto the counter. “Who said Armageddon can’t be fun!”
We didn’t laugh.
“Jeez, just trying to lighten things up,” Kent said, irritated.
“I’m going to find a shower,” I said. “Hopefully the water’s still running.”
“Where should we sleep?” Kent asked.
“The emergency room is probably okay,” I said, thinking out loud. “It’s below ground.”
The sun had set, which meant we were once again in the dark. I grabbed one of the camp lanterns and went in search of a shower. It didn’t take long to find one. There was a locker room near the ER that was probably for nurses. At the far end was a three-stall shower. I put the lantern down outside of one stall, stepped inside, crossed my fingers, and turned the faucet.
A hard spray of water sprang from the showerhead.
“Yes!”
It wasn’t heated, but the pressure was good. There were even bottles of body wash and shampoo at each station. After finding a stack of clean white towels, I was good to go. I peeled off my clothes and stood under the cold spray to wash away the grime that had been building over the last few days. It didn’t bother me that the water was cold. It felt great. I shampooed my hair and was surprised to feel that a bunch of grit had accumulated on my scalp. It took a second for me to realize I was washing out tiny bits of Fenway Park. I lathered myself entirely to get every last particle of that nightmare off of my body. By the time I rinsed off, the cold water was making me numb, so I shut it off and stood there to drip dry.
“I’m next,” Olivia sang.
I turned quickly to see her standing in the entrance to the shower area wearing only a towel… which was a lot more than I was wearing.
“Jeez, Olivia!” I complained. “Again?”
I covered my privates with one hand and reached for a towel with the other. By the time I had it wrapped around my waist, Olivia had stepped into the stall behind me.
“I’ll dry your back,” she said.
There were too many emotions fighting for control for me to do anything but stand there like a dummy. I was embarrassed and angry and nervous and, okay, maybe a little bit thrilled that the two of us were standing there together, as good as naked. Olivia gently patted my back with a towel as I stood frozen.
“You shouldn’t be doing this,” I finally said. “If Kent walks in… hell, if anybody walks in.”
“What?” she said innocently. “We’re taking a shower. Like you said, we’re all in this together now.”
“This isn’t what I had in mind,” I said, my voice cracking.
“Oh, relax. We’re not doing anything wrong. Are we?”
Maybe it was just my imagination or wishful thinking, but the way she said “Are we?” sounded like an invitation. Man, I was tempted. I had followed Olivia around like a dumb puppy all summer just hoping to get a kiss. Now we were standing in a dark shower, alone, nearly naked, and she was rubbing my shoulders even though they had been dry for a while.
“I was thinking,” she said. “Maybe we shouldn’t go to Nevada.”
“Why not? It’s as good a place as any.”
“Is it? What does Tori think we’ll find there? A bunch of survivors we can join up with and fight to take back the world from the clutches of the evil Air Force? Or SYLO? Or whoever else may be trying to take over the world? It’s a romantic idea, but is it realistic? Or is she just trying to finish what her father started?”
It was a pretty smart observation. Tori loved her dad. It wasn’t hard to imagine that she’d want to follow in his footsteps.
“What do you think we should do?” I asked.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she answered dreamily, as if she hadn’t really thought about it.
She came around to the front of me and continued to dry me off, rubbing the towel across my chest. It was making me crazy, but I didn’t stop her.
“Maybe the best thing we can do is head south. Somewhere tropical, like the Florida Keys. Somewhere that’ll be warm and comfortable, even in winter. We can find a house on the beach and fish for supper and sleep in the sand under a palm tree, and while the rest of the world sorts itself out, we’ll be in paradise. Doesn’t that sound tempting?”
She stopped rubbing my chest and looked me square in the eye.
I don’t think the word “tempting” was strong enough. It sounded great. I imagined lying on the beach with Olivia. Olivia was wearing the red bikini.
“Do you want to go to the beach with me, Tucker?” she asked playfully and took a step closer.
I was a breath away from saying, “Hell yeah!” when—
“Really?” came a stern voice from the door leading into the shower.