security ladder and then Jake and Alex went up the metal staircase and worked on opening the hatch.
After the woman had been attacked, Niko had wanted the hatch to be really easy to open (though still airtight) in case we had another emergency.
I guess he’d made the hatch really darn easy because by the time we got back with baby wipes, two gallons of spring water, and fresh clothes for the two men, we could hear adult voices through the storeroom doors.
They sounded friendly.…
Josie, Niko, Brayden, and I waited impatiently outside the storeroom doors.
Eventually Alex came out holding two handguns. He held each by the grip, barrel facing down, held out away from his body. He held them the way you might hold a couple of dead rats. He also had a fanny pack filled with ammo looped around one shoulder.
“Guess what?” he said after he unwound a scarf from his face. “They have a dog! A nice one.”
“I’ll take the guns,” Niko said. He held out a two-gallon Ziploc bag and Alex placed the guns and ammo into it. Niko wrapped it up neatly and headed off toward the Accessories Department. To hide them, I guess.
I gave Alex the clothes and cleaning supplies to take back into the storeroom.
“What are they like?” I asked Alex.
He shrugged.
“They’re acting nice,” he said. Then he looked at me. “Wouldn’t you?”
Sahalia brought the kids over.
“I couldn’t keep them away any longer,” she said. “They’re all hopped up on the idiotic amounts of sugar you set out for them.”
They were pretty wired. They were buzzing around and laughing and shouting and pushing each other and bopping up and down.
Then the timbre of Mr. Appleton’s voice came through the doors and they stopped talking.
A grown-up’s voice. Grown-ups were among us.
Caroline and Henry were holding hands, and I saw Max and Ulysses grab on to each other.
The door swung open but it was just Alex again.
“They’re changing their clothes and tidying up,” he told us. “And guess what, you guys? They have a surprise!”
“What is it?” “What is it?” “What’s the surprise?” “Are they staying forever?” “Are they here to rescue us?” “Is it anyone we know?” came the questions.
Josie motioned for the kids to follow her and she took them just a little ways back from the door.
“The two men are here to trade with us,” she said. “We are going to give them food and water and let them spend the night here. In exchange, they are going to tell us how things are going outside.”
“But… but…,” stammered Henry. He started to bawl. “I want to go home! I want my mommy! I’m tired of waiting and waiting!”
Josie hugged him and picked him up.
“I know, Henry,” she said. “You and Caroline have been so patient. But maybe these guys can tell us how much longer we will have to wait. Come on, guys,” she said to the little kids. “You can each pick out a welcome gift for the outsiders.”
Off they went, chatting and chirping like a little flock of birds.
There was manly laughter from behind the doors. Meanwhile, for those of us on the other side, it felt like time had stood still.
“Aaaaaargh,” Niko said under his breath. “I hope this wasn’t a huge mistake.”
“It’ll be okay,” I said. “Mrs. Wooly wouldn’t have told them about us if she didn’t trust them.”
Niko sighed and ran his hands through his dark, straight hair.
“I will never forgive myself if something happens to one of us,” he said. “Never.”
“Lighten up, Scouty,” Brayden said. “It’ll be fine.”
Chloe came back with two Snickers bars. Max and Ulysses lugged one big bottle of Gatorade each. Caroline and Henry had picked out some greeting cards. Batiste had two new bibles.
“Well, the Welcome Wagon’s ready,” Josie said.
And finally the doors swung open.
Mr. Appleton was tall, maybe six feet tall, and dressed now in a pair of khakis, a plaid flannel shirt, and a gray pullover sweater. The kind with patches on the elbows. His eyes had red rims, and his nose also was red around the nostrils. Besides that he looked pale and shaky. He had salt-and-pepper hair that was cut short and stood up pretty much straight. It was dirty—there was only so much you could do with a gallon of water and baby wipes, but it probably looked a lot better than it had before.
He was limping and there was already some new blood seeping through the khakis.
We should have brought medical supplies, I thought to myself.
Robbie was a good foot shorter. He was Latino and had a deeply tanned face with crinkle marks around his eyes. Smile lines. His eyes and nose were also red but he was grinning at us. And he held in his arms an old dog.
It was wet, and though Robbie had an awkward grip on it, the dog seemed patient and resigned to the indignity of being held. The dog was of no particular breed. A grayish-brownish-colored mutt with a scrunched-up face, white around the muzzle. It had one of those smushed-in faces dogs sometimes have, with one bottom tooth that stuck out over its upper lip. Ugly, but definitely lovable.
The kids cheered and oohed and aahed at the dog.
The dog woofed and wagged its stumpy tail politely.
“Everyone,” Jake said. “This is Mr. Appleton and this is Robbie.”
Robbie held the dog up.
“And this here is Luna,” he said cheerfully.
Robbie let the dog down. She came forward to smell our feet. Luna had a length of twine as a leash.
We’d soon fix that. Luna would have every pet luxury a Greenway could provide.
The little kids pressed forward all at once, offering their gifts.
Mr. Appleton duly shook hands and tousled hair and accepted the offerings, then he seemed to sway and Robbie held out his arm to support him.
“Let’s get you to the Pharmacy,” said Niko.
“Or perhaps you could bring some bandages here,” Mr. Appleton said as he slumped to the floor.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
BREAKFAST WITH OUTSIDERS
My first impression was that Mr. Appleton was an ex-army guy. We had a lot of them in the area. He had that very good posture of the army men, and also the haircut. His haircut was the way army men let their hair grow out. They didn’t quite want the buzz—maybe they felt they didn’t deserve to wear a buzz anymore, but they didn’t want their hair flopping over either.
Mr. Appleton seemed to tolerate the little kids, but I didn’t have the sense he liked them one bit.
Robbie, on the other hand, was a family guy, you could see that straightaway. He looked like he was in heaven, surrounded by all the little kids. But it was the way he handled Ulysses that won me over.
After Niko went for medical supplies, the kids gathered around Robbie and Luna on the ground. Robbie was learning the names of the kids and introducing them to Luna. I saw him watching Ulysses, waiting for it to be Ulysses’s turn to introduce himself.
And Ulysses said, “
