Angela eyed Hayden even longer before kneeling in front of Nicholas. “A lot of people have died in the last little while, haven’t they, Nicholas.” Nicholas nodded. “Has this man taken care of you? Has he been good to you?”
Nicholas nodded again, more emphatically. “He’s Hayden, and I love him.”
That was good enough for Angela.
And Caitlan. “Well let’s just not stand out here in the cold. We’ve got hot coffee inside.”
They crowded into the small weigh station office, and Hayden and Nicholas were introduced to Amanda and Michael Fulger. “We found each other in a shopping mall,” Angela explained. “These two were holed up in the back of a toy store trying to outlast a homicidal security guard.”
Nicholas had already cozied up against Amanda. Michael and his sister were leering at Hayden suspiciously. He held his bloody palms up in front of them and tried wiping more from his face onto his forearm. “I know. I look like crap, but I’m not all that scary.”
“Can’t take a punch, either,” Caitlan mumbled. She smiled and presented him with a Styrofoam cup filled with steaming black coffee. “Here you are, sweetie. The hotplate has a battery backup, and there’s plenty of water in the cooler for the boy to drink.”
“There’s food here as well,” Angela said. “Mostly canned stuff, but it’ll fill you up.”
Caitlan reached down in front of the children and dug around inside the bottom desk drawer. She pulled a glass bottle out. “Don’t mind me. I’ve had enough of instant coffee and spaghetti in a tin.” She poured a generous amount of vodka into her own cup and tossed it back in one quick swallow. “Now that hits the spot.”
Hayden looked at the women incredulously. “How? Where did you find this stuff?”
Angela laughed. “Everyone’s been heading for the obvious choices... looting grocery stores, malls, restaurants and houses. No one’s even thought of checking inside places like this.”
“Trucking weigh stations,” Hayden said.
Caitlan poured another shot. “Dentist’s offices, tire shops, roofing supply outlets and police stations. There’s hundreds of other businesses and institutions out there to hit that most people haven’t even thought of exploring yet. Funny thing is—all those folks that used to work in these places had daily needs. They needed water and food, and weigh stations like this have more than enough to keep us going.”
“For now,” Hayden added. “They’ll empty out soon enough.”
Caitlan took the vodka bottle and leaned her big arms down onto the counter of the window. She slid it open and smelled the air. “It’s going to rain again soon. Them clouds south of the city look like shit.” She swigged from the bottle. “We should get moving, keep heading east.”
“You’re not driving,” Angela said.
“Yeah, yeah... I’ve been drinking. You gonna take the wheel instead?”
“Not me,” she answered. Angela looked to Hayden. “Will you come with us?”
“We were headed for the city... I was going to find a home for Nicholas.”
Angela shook her head grimly. Caitlan replied for all of them. “You won’t find a home there. The city’s still burning, and what’s left is being run by fucking lunatics.”
“Hayden,” Nicholas called out softly. “I don’t wanna go there no more.”
“Where?” Hayden looked at all of them in turn. “Where are you going?”
Caitlan screwed the cap back onto her bottle. She pointed the end of it towards the dull mustard glow off on the eastern horizon. “Away from that. Away from the worst of the fallout and the sick-minded fuckers.”
“We came from the northwest. One of the bombs fell not that far from my farm. You won’t find anything there, either.”
“Then we’ll continue headed west, maybe even swing down south into the States.”
“More people in the States,” Caitlin said. “More people, more lunatics, more guns.”
Amanda pushed Nicholas away gently. “We have to go somewhere. We barely have room to all stand in here. I want to find some place with a bed.”
“Amen to that, girl.” Caitlan handed the Audi key to Hayden. “Treat her good, pretty boy. Not one more scratch, or I’ll blacken both those eyes to match your fat nose.”
Chapter 5
Roy and Louie ate their late supper in silence. It consisted of eight pounds of stewing beef they’d found in a basement freezer that no longer worked. Roy had started a fire in the ditch next to the highway, and Louie had roasted the meat over the flames until it was black.
“It will make us sick,” Louie muttered between bites. He looked over his shoulder back towards the city. “We’ll probably be puking our guts out all night long.”
“It still felt cool. It won’t kill us. Better than not eating at all.”
Louie drank the rest of his warm beer down to wash the burned taste from his mouth. They had discovered two 15-packs of Rainier Mountain Fresh next to the freezer. It didn’t taste all that fresh, but it was doing a good enough job of dulling Louie’s senses. Roy had finished one of the boxes already. Louie cracked the tab open on another and sipped. “If we’re sleeping outdoors, I suggest you find some more wood to burn. We’re going to need a bigger fire.”
“I was cooped up in a shopping mall for days. I like it outside. If you want wood, go get it yourself.” He caught Louie glancing over his shoulder at the city east of them. “What the hell do you keep looking back that way for? You miss that shit-hole I found you climbing out of?”
“Miss it? No.”
“Maybe you want to go back to that fucking hotel?”
“Not a chance.”
“Then what’s got you spooked?”
Louie took a long swallow and belched. “I’m worried about the people I left behind. I don’t think it went well for them in the end.”
“I thought you said they were all dead.”
“They
