Zeke sat on the floor, looking up at her. "I'msorry."
Katie laughed out loud. "Aren't we all? Aren't weall fucking sorry, right now?"
The room was filled with silence. Zeke sat there, waitingfor her to say something. She wanted him to be mad. She wanted him to storm outof there and never talk to her again, but he didn't. He sat there, like a rock,regarding her with a calmness that was driving her wild.
"What do you want? Why are you still here?"
"I'm just here. Whatever you need, I'm justhere."
Katie put her hands to her face, groaned loudly and thensat down. "That's what I was afraid of. Listen. I've got some issues rightnow, clearly, but I don't want to lead you down the wrong path here. Whateverwe do, that's just the moment. It means nothing. It's going to go nowhere. Ijust want you to know that."
Zeke nodded his head and smiled at her. "That's finewith me."
Katie looked skyward. "I've never met a person soeasy to get along with. It's maddening."
"Hey, I got nothing but time to kill," he said,his teeth gleaming in a ray of light.
Katie reached into his lap, and grabbed him, strokingback and forth. She felt him harden in her hand. He leaned in for a kiss, andshe slapped him across the face with her free hand. He leaned backwards, andshe straddled him on the floor. "Well, let's kill a little time shallwe?"
Chapter 27: Room #27
Lou woke up with the mother of all cricks in his neck.Sleeping in a chair in an arena was not the secret to a functioning neck andspine. He looked to his left and saw his leftover meal sitting there, untouchedand cold. How long had he been asleep? It was impossible to tell time in theColiseum. There were no windows inside the main floor of the arena.
He guessed it was night, as the majority of people in thearena were in various states of slumber. Snoring and heavy breathing filled theair around him, along with the stifled weeping of the few that were stillawake. People slept wherever they could, bundled up in scratchy, army-issueblankets that weren't so much designed for comfort as they were to keep youfunctional.
Lou grabbed his plate of food and began shoveling theremains of the meal into his mouth, swallowing the cold globs out of prudencerather than hunger. He had to keep his strength up. As soon as Zeke and Lou hadtouched down in the Coliseum, Zeke had known that the place was doomed to fall.
"Look at those fences, man. How long do you thinkthose will hold?" Zeke had asked.
Lou knew the answer. He knew that sooner or later, thosefences were going to come tumbling down, and a lot of people were going to diein the ensuing chaos. Lou was betting that he wasn't going to be one of those.But he needed to know where Zeke was. It was funny how quickly he had becomeused to the man. He wasn't what you'd call likeable, but his quiet capabilitywas comforting. While Lou was screaming inside of his head and swearing underhis breath, Zeke would remain cool, calm, and logical. He admired the man, buthe also felt a connection with him.
Now, he wasn't here, and while he swallowed a load ofcold mashed potatoes and congealed gravy, he began to feel panicked by his absence.Lou looked to his right, and saw Brian and his two daughters curled up on alanding. Their bodies were entangled underneath several green blankets. Lou hadwished to be a lot of things in his time, but right now, he was glad he wasn'ta father. Out of all the people he had met and talked with in the Coliseum,Brian's case was easily the worst.
It wasn't that he had lost his wife, plenty of people hadlost significant others. It was that he had lost his wife right in front of hiskids, at the hands of the very people that were supposed to be protecting them.For the whole evening, the children had alternated between sitting in dumb,mute silence and sobbing uncontrollably. Brian seemed like an alright sort, buthe clearly had no idea how to comfort two grieving children. Of course, thatcould be because he himself was grieving. Lou doubted that he would be able todo any better if their roles were reversed.
There were a lot of people in the Coliseum who had lostfriends and relatives, but the majority of the people had simply not been ableto contact their family members. They still had hope that they were out theresomewhere, holed up, with the doors locked tight and the windows boarded upjust like in an old horror movie. Brian had no such hope. The only positivething Lou could see about Brian's situation was that Brian hadn't had to pullthe trigger himself.
Then there was the fact that he still had two littlegirls to look after. The teenage girl, June, with red hair and a pouty facedotted with acne, seemed like she might be fine eventually. It was the littlestgirl, Ruby, that was the major problem. She was 6-years-old and one-hundredpercent helpless. Without someone there to protect her, she would be gone in notime. Brian had to know that. He had to know that he was guarding a tickingtimebomb of sorrow that could explode at any moment.
It was a hell of a thing. Lou was glad it wasn't histhing. He stood up and cracked his back, groaning as quiet as he could at thenoisy release of pressure. The arena was dim. Only about one out of every threelights was on. Lou bent down and put his boots back on his feet, though itpained him to do so. His first steps were stiff and painful, a result of theirescape from the city the day before. Lou couldn't remember the last time he hadrun so far. Lou picked his way down the stairs, stepping over slumbering bodieswrapped in blankets, lying on the concrete like deep-breathing burritos. Hestepped out onto the concourse where the lights were brighter.
The concourse was empty for the most
