“What are ya waitin’ for?”
“I ain’t got no place to go. Besides, nobody wants me. I’ll stay here and get three meals a day, free TV. Showers. Don’t gotta pay for nothin. Life ain’t so bad here.”
“Come on, man. Don’t stay here. What about your old lady? You could go there.”
“Last I heard my old lady shacked up with my best friend who’s now her baby daddy. She ain’t even taking my calls no more. My mama died last year, and I ain’t got no idea who my old man is. Nobody to go to.”
“Then come with me,” Nail offered.
“Where to?” Dontrell asked. “I didn’t think you had any relatives around these parts.”
“I got a rich granny west of here.”
Dontrell’s eyes perked up. “How rich?”
“She’s got a sweet spread. And guns. Used to go there as a kid. My parents used to make me and my sister stay the summer with her so she could get to know us. I know where she keeps her money.”
“No kiddin’?”
“I’m tellin’ you straight. She’s rich. We can lay low there until this blows over. Hell, we could find us some country girls and have a good time.”
“Suppose your granny don’t want us there? I don’t mean no offense when I say you’re not exactly the apple of anybody’s eyes.”
“I’ll get rid of her.”
“You ain’t got no heart. If you’d kill your granny, no telling what else you’d do.”
“You got no idea what I’m capable of doin,” Nail stated.
“Man, I don’t know. I’m city scum. I’d have no clue about country livin’. Am I gonna have to kill my own food? Killin’ a man is different than wringing some poor chicken’s neck. Nah, man. I’m staying here.”
Nail thought about how he could convince Dontrell to go with him. It would be easier to have a partner to travel with because there was safety in numbers. If he travelled alone, he could easily be overtaken. He needed to come up with something else. Nail glanced at the poster on the wall of a young woman, all dolled up, holding a guitar, singing. It gave him an idea.
“She your favorite singer?” Nail asked, pointing to the poster.
“She sure has the voice of an angel, don’t she?”
“Come with me and I’ll get you an autograph.”
“Seriously?” Dontrell’s excitement grew at the prospect of getting a personally signed copy of the poster.
“After all,” Nail said, “Lexi Carter is my sister, and I’m sure she’d love to see me again.”
Chapter 31
Fourth year medical student Jordan Hunt was walking on the sidewalk near the entrance to the convention center and was just about to pass the doors when a noise startled her.
“What’s wrong?” Tom Edison asked. He was in the same graduating class as Jordan, had the same schedule as she did, lived in the same apartment complex, and had been sleeping when the EMP shut down society. Finally, and without any communication from the hospital where they were working, they decided to walk to the hospital.
“I thought I heard something in there,” Jordan said, pointing to the door leading to the convention center.
“The wind probably slammed a door shut,” Tom said.
“Maybe.” Jordan wasn’t convinced.
They walked a few steps past the doors when Jordan stopped. “I have to see what’s in there,” she said.
“Let’s leave it. We’re not far from the hospital, and I know they must need us.”
“We’ve been waiting for days,” Jordan said. “A few more minutes won’t hurt anything.”
Jordan headed back to the doors, opened them, and stepped inside. The building was eerily quiet compared to the last time she had been in there for the Gem and Mineral show. The place normally would be bustling with chatter and people eager to browse the booths holding any type of jewelry a person could want.
“There’s nothing here,” Tom said. “Let’s go.”
“Let’s check one more thing, then we can go.”
Jordan, or Jordie as she was known to her friends, opened the interior set of doors. The cavernous room was dark except for a sliver of light from another door that had been propped open.
“Something’s over there.” Jordie spied a rectangular object, about six feet long, on the floor. From a distance it looked like a large box, except it appeared softer than cardboard, and not exactly square. Curious, Jordie hastily walked over to it. She clicked on the pencil sized ASP Scribe flashlight she carried in her shirt pocket and shined it on the object.
To her horror, she saw a young woman’s face. Eyes were closed, lips slightly parted. There was no movement. To the side she saw a few drops of blood on the floor.
“Tom! There’s a body here.”
“What?”
“Come here,” Jordie said. “I knew something wasn’t right. Watch where you step. There’s some blood on the floor.”
Tom looked at the body. “What should we do?” he asked.
“I guess there’s not much we can do. I’ll check her pockets on the off chance she has some identification. At least she’ll have a name so I can notify her relatives. Someone must have cared for her to make her a bed for her last moments.”
“I wonder what she died of?” Tom asked. “It doesn’t appear she’s been dead long. She still has a bit of color in her face.”
Jordie pulled back the curtain that doubled as a blanket to reveal a slender young woman. She had a wound that had seeped blood through her clothes and a folded scarf that had been used to staunch the bleeding. “I guess it was a stab wound or a gun shot. Too bad. So young.”
As Jordie reached into the woman’s pocket, a clammy hand grabbed her arm and latched onto it. Jordie screamed, jerked her arm away, and stumbled back from sheer surprise. She landed flat on her butt.
