"Truth be told, I don't know."
"You could always come with us. We could use thefirepower."
Sergeant Tejada looked at her, a questioning look on hisface. "You don't want that. None of you do. Sure you want the guns, butyou don't want to see what happens when a soldier goes south. When a soldierloses all hope, and some of these boys will, you don't want them around. It'smore for you than for us."
Clara didn't quite understand what Sergeant Tejada wastrying to say. "What are you getting at?"
"I'm saying that you've got women in your group.These men are just boys, boys who have lost everything they know and love. Youdon't want a trained weapon turning on you in the middle of the night."
Clara understood what he was saying. She had understoodit from the moment they had been dragged out of the back of the semi-truck.Amanda had seen first-hand what happened when a soldier went rogue back at theColiseum when a soldier had tried to rape her in the bathroom. If it wasn't forChloe, things would have gotten worse. She just nodded, and Sergeant Tejadafell quiet.
"You could always follow us at some point,"Clara said.
Sergeant Tejada smiled. "Now there's an idea. Maybeyou're onto something." He tossed another book on the fire, took a dragfrom what was left of his cigarette and then tossed that in as well. "WhenI run out of books, I might just think about it."
Clara stood up, took one last drag from her cigarette,and tossed it in the fire. "Well, thanks for the cigarette. I'm gonna gosee if I can get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
"That you do," Sergeant Tejada said. He watchedas Clara took off into the night, disappearing amid the dark cars. A smile cameover his face. He looked at his pile of books and wondered how long they wouldlast.
****
Amanda listened closely to Rudy's breathing. It was slowand steady, unchanging. It comforted her. In the tent they were in, she couldfeel the heat from his body warming her up. One of the soldiers had been kindenough to lend it to them when he saw the state of Rudy.
Joan had given him a full examination once they hadgotten settled. With the equipment she had, which was nothing more than afirst-aid kit, she couldn't tell what was wrong. She had checked his bones, thetwo of them struggling to pull the shirt off of his massive chest. There was noapparent injury there, and his arms and legs seemed fine, no swelling ordiscoloration. The big concern was his skull. There was a gash on the back ofhis head, and Joan was sure that he had sustained some sort of brain trauma inhis fall.
She didn't want to think about what would happen if Rudydidn't wake up tomorrow morning. The other survivors agreed that sitting on thebridge was a recipe for disaster. Sooner or later, a horde would come pouringout of the city, and the soldiers wouldn't have enough bullets to stop whatwould happen next. The others were intent on moving on. Amanda didn't know ifshe could leave Rudy behind.
The soldiers made her nervous, and she didn't like theway they looked at her. Although, she couldn't tell if that was all in herimagination or something real that she was picking up on. Maybe it was just aresidue from what had almost happened to her at the Memorial Coliseum.
She stopped her train of thought, and listened, makingsure that Rudy was breathing. There it was, that nasally breath inward. Shesighed with relief.
She had been trying to sleep for a couple of hours, buther constant need to check on Rudy's breathing had prevented her from driftingoff. She should have fallen right asleep. She was exhausted. The day had been along and hard one, but they hadn't lost anyone. She thought of Rudy once more.Well, not yet anyway.
She didn't know why, but tears came to her eyes. Whatshould she do? If Rudy didn't wake up in the morning, should she stay here andwatch over him? What kind of friend would she be if she just abandoned him atthe first opportunity? Rudy might be a mess of a human being, but he was a goodfriend. He had never left her side for longer than a few minutes ever since theincident in the Coliseum. She knew he blamed himself for it, but it hadn't beenhis fault.
She made up her mind. If Rudy stayed, she stayed... maybesome of the other survivors would stay as well. In her mind, she started checkingoff those who would be likely to stay and those who would be likely to go. Shewas turning over the issue of Chloe in her mind when she heard a noise at theflap of the tent. She sat up, grabbing the night club that she had carriedacross half the city.
"Who's there?" she demanded.
"It's just me. Chloe."
Amanda relaxed and dropped her nightstick on the floor."Oh." They were silent, and then Amanda asked, "Why aren't yousleeping?"
"I just wanted to check on you. See how you weredoing."
"I can't sleep," she said.
She could feel Chloe crawling around her legs, enteringthe tent. Amanda felt the tickle of Chloe's blonde hair in the dark as ittrailed across her own face. "What's wrong?" Chloe asked, her hotbreath washing over Amanda's face.
"I can't stop thinking about tomorrow. If Rudydoesn't wake up, then what happens? We can't just leave him here, with those...with those... soldiers." She heard the warble in her voice, and bit herlips to prevent the inevitable sob from coming.
Amanda jerked as she felt Chloe's hand stroking her hair."We won't leave him here. If it comes to that, I'll stay with youguys."
Amanda couldn't believe what she was hearing. Chloe,seemingly the coldest bitch in the world, was willing to wait for Rudy. Maybeif Chloe was willing to wait, the others would too. Gratitude flooded throughher like the burn of whiskey on a cold winter's day. "Thank you," shemanaged to squeak, trying to hold back the hot tears in her eyes.
The stroking of her hair continued, and then Chloe said,"Why don't
