makes her real, you know? It’s easy to forget that our lives before weren’t a dream. This isn’t the reality, how we’re meant to live, or who we are. The people we were seven days ago . . . that is who we are, and Scarlet remembering Dana when she was alive makes that true.”
I shook my head. I still didn’t understand.
Joey shrugged. “It feels good to know she lives in someone else’s memory, too.”
I offered a small smile, and shoved my hands in the pockets of my hoodie. “Goodnight.”
Nathan
MY EYES PEELED OPEN, AND it took a moment for me to recall where I was and why. Simultaneously, I remembered that Zoe was supposed to be asleep next to me, and realized that her side of the bed was empty. In a panic, I scrambled over the bed and ran through the French doors to the living room. Zoe was sitting at the head of the dining room table, chomping away on Frosted Mini-Wheats and chatting Scarlet’s ear off.
Scarlet was sitting in the chair next to Zoe, her chin resting in her hand, listening intently to every word my daughter uttered. Zoe and Scarlet mirrored each other’s happiness in that moment, and I got a little choked up at the sight of them. Zoe’s sweet smile had returned, and Scarlet’s fiery red hair glowed in the morning sun that poured through cracks in the wooden slats on the window. I wasn’t sure I’d seen anything more beautiful.
Once Scarlet caught a glimpse of me, she pushed away from the table and went outside. Zoe took another bite, and I winked at her before joining Scarlet on the porch. She was staring down the dirt road, longing for her daughters, I imagined.
“My daughter Halle isn’t much older than Zoe,” she said, covering her mouth with a few of her fingers. Her pink nail polish was nearly completely chipped away, but her fingers were still elegant.
“How old is the other one? You have two, right?”
Scarlet cast a curious glance in my direction.
“The picture on the wall.”
“Just the two,” she said with a guarded smile. “Jenna is thirteen.” I laughed once, and Scarlet nodded. “Boy, is she ever.”
“I can’t imagine.”
“You will,” she said. Her smile faded. “They were supposed to meet me here if something happened. They were with their father when . . . I couldn’t get to them.”
“They know their way?”
She nodded. “Halle made up a song. She makes up a song for everything. It used to drive me crazy. I try to remember some of them, but I can’t,” she whispered the last bit. “Having all of Halle’s artwork from school all over my Suburban was maddening. I remember getting on her case for it so many times. I wish to God I had just one piece of that now. That picture is all I have of them.”
Her blue eyes glistened, and I fought the urge to wrap my arms around her. Before that thought was complete, her soft, red hair was under my chin, and her hands were interlocked at the small of my back. It took me a moment to realize what was happening, but then I rested my cheek against her hair and squeezed her tight. She wept quietly in my arms, and I waited patiently until she stopped shaking.
She let go first, and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry. That was probably a weird thing to do.”
“Nothing is weird anymore,” I said with a half-smile.
She laughed, for maybe the first time since this all started. It sounded like music and sunshine. “That’s true.” Her eyes wandered back to the crest of the hill, and we waited in silence for a while until Zoe called for me. I left her alone to tend to my daughter. After an hour, Zoe tugged on my slacks.
“Is she going to stay out there all day?”
“I don’t know,” I said. Scarlet hadn’t moved. She watched the road like she was expecting her children to come over the hill at any moment.
Minutes later, Scarlet tore herself away and came back in, immediately checking the nails in the slats, and then finding things to organize or clean.
Miranda and Bryce emerged from their bedroom. Miranda’s eyes were swollen. It looked like she’d been crying again. Bryce was holding her hand, and squeezed it once before letting go to make them some breakfast.
“We should be careful what we consume,” Joey said. “We’ll probably have to go back to Shallot eventually for supplies.”
“Not for a while,” Bryce said, opening the cabinet. It was stocked full. “There is a pantry, too. A big one.”
“What about the water situation?” Joey asked.
“Well,” Ashley said, following Cooper out of her room. They were more affectionate toward one another than Bryce and Miranda. They reached out to touch each other recurrently, like a dolphin rising to the surface for air.
“Well what?” Joey said.
Ashley smiled. “Water well.”
“Is it electric?” Joey asked.
“The pump is,” Scarlet said. “Why?”
“How much longer will we have electricity, and what will we do for water when we don’t?” Joey said matter- of-factly.
Everyone traded glances. I felt the same way. It hadn’t occurred to me that it was only a matter of time before we were without power.
Ashley looked to Joey. “How much longer do you think we have?”
“It depends on if the operators and utilities had enough warning to take measures to keep things running for a while,” I said. “I’m pretty sure this area is run by a hydroelectric power station, otherwise we would have been off by now.”
“How do you know all of that?” Miranda asked.
“It’s what I do,” I said. “Or what I used to do. If operators had time to isolate key portions of the grid to reduce connections, and then terminate power delivery altogether to areas prone to potential drains, a hydro plant could easily function for weeks or months. In theory, they have an unlimited fuel supply, assuming normal rainfall. We’d basically be waiting for an essential component to fail or wear out.”
“So we should prepare,” Joey said. “We have food, we have weapons, but they won’t mean anything if we don’t have water.”
“Should we find containers and start filling them?” Cooper asked.
Joey nodded. “That will work for a while, but we’ll eventually need something more long-term. We need some kind of a water filtration system.”
Ashley sat at the table. “How much longer is this going to go on? It’s not permanent . . . is it? They’ll fix it.”
“Who’s they?” Joey asked.
“The government,” Cooper said.
Joey shook his head. “We shouldn’t assume this is temporary. We should take measures now to . . .”
“I’d just like to know who the fuck died and left you running the show,” Bryce said, cutting Joey off.
“Bryce . . . ,” Miranda said.
“Okay,” I said, holding up my hands. “We’re all tired and stressed. I’m sure with the storm last night not many of us got much rest. Bryce, you’ve got a point. We need to work together and come up with a plan. Joey, you seem like you know what you’re talking about. You’ve had training?”
“He just got back from Afghanistan,” Miranda said. Her input only agitated Bryce more.
“Okay, then,” I said, trying to avoid a scene. “Joey, why don’t you look around and see what you can come up with? We’ll need to fashion some sort of water-holding cistern, and we’ll need to go into town for a hand-pumped water filter, replacement filters, and some purification tablets if we can find them.”
“That’s asking a lot,” Miranda said. “You would find all of that at a large camping outlet. The closest one I can think of is over two hours away.”
“I used to watch those preparation shows on TV,” Scarlet said. “They showed someone pouring water through sand once, and then putting cloth at the bottom. Sand is a really good filtration system. There is charcoal
