Behind the large home were woods. She couldn’t see any other homes connecting this neighborhood to another, and no houses seemed to sit behind it.
“That’s Steph’s, remember?” Roman asked, pointing out her window to a house two doors down.
“I remember,” she acknowledged and got out.
Not a single light was on in the neighborhood, and some of the homes had clearly been burned. The torching of neighborhoods by the military had not been complete, or else the job was too big to be thorough. They’d been through quite a few areas like this that contained burned homes or businesses, but not completely leveled blocks. The brick home was still standing. So was Stephanie’s, which meant her stepfather was still in there in all likelihood. That made Jane shiver just thinking about it.
Alex and Stephanie went to the front door and found it locked before returning.
“I know where they kept the key,” Stephanie said and went around to the side of the long garage. She returned a moment later with it.
“What if someone’s home?” Jane asked softly.
“Fat chance,” Steph corrected her. “They evacuated my area, remember?”
Stephanie went in through the front door with Alex while Jane waited with Roman by the truck. A few minutes later, the garage door was opened manually, and Roman pulled the truck and the trailer inside. There was another garage door at the rear that opened to the back of the property. They got out and shut their doors quietly.
“Owner used to do drag race cars or something,” Stephanie explained as Alex pulled the door closed again and locked it. He also locked and checked the other doors. “He’d pull his trailer and truck in here. Total motorhead.”
“Oh, and the house? Is it safe?”
“Yeah, nobody’s home. It’s actually not cold, either. Not sure why. Maybe gas is on?”
Stephanie shrugged and left her to go inside. Jane took her backpack out of the truck and grabbed Roman’s, too.
“Be careful,” Alex warned. “We did a quick check, but you guys should go around and lock windows and doors. And don’t turn on any lights, either.”
“Okay, we won’t,” Jane promised and went to find Stephanie.
The house was huge like Roman’s, probably five or six thousand square feet with a finished basement. She helped Stephanie with windows and doors, but all of them were already locked and closed. The house was warmer than the outdoors, but it certainly wasn’t warm. She checked the thermostat and found it set to seventy-two, but it was reading fifty-eight for some reason. She wasn’t going to complain, though. Fifty-eight degrees was still better than sleeping in the truck.
“I’m starving,” Steph said. “Wish we could order take-out.”
Jane smiled as Stephanie used the light of her cell phone to look around the kitchen.
“Cleaned out. We should get some food from the truck.”
Jane questioned, “Will the appliances turn on?”
“Only one way to find out,” Steph said and turned the knob on the gas stove. It didn’t do anything. Then she tried the microwave, which also didn’t work. “That changes things a little.”
“Yeah,” Jane agreed and left the kitchen. “What about this fireplace? Think we could light it?”
“Maybe, I’m not great at lighting one from scratch, though,” she admitted. “I can add wood, but we had a push-button gas fireplace at my house.”
“I can do it,” Jane said, noting that it was a real, working fireplace and not gas. Stephanie did load wood in their wood-burner at home, though, which was helpful until she’d burned her hand. “If we can open the flu, we can light it and cook on it.”
“Got my vote,” Steph agreed. “I’ll go out and get food from the truck. We put a box of stuff up front in case we needed it for the trip home, which isn’t happening now. Looks like we’re going to need it, after all.”
“If you wait, I’ll go with you.”
Stephanie jutted out her chin and said, “I’ll be fine, dork. Worst thing in this neighborhood is dead because I killed him.”
And with that, she left. Jane was still worried about her going out into the dark by herself, though.
Instead of dwelling on it, she got to work starting the fire, hoping Alex and Roman wouldn’t be mad about it. The chimney seemed clean and clear, and the fire was easy to light since all the supplies were stacked neatly right beside the stone hearth. Then she realized that the draperies weren’t even closed and rushed around to do so. It felt almost homey when she was done, and the blackout curtains would probably hide most if not all of the light from the fire.
Stephanie returned with the box of food items, and together they rummaged the kitchen and worked on creating some sort of dinner. Tonight, it was going to be two cans of cooked, sliced potatoes, a tin of Spam diced up into small chunks, chicken broth, and a can of green beans. She found some spices in the kitchen and added some garlic salt, minced onion, salt and pepper. They mixed it all together and placed the dutch oven pot with the matching yellow enameled lid directly on the logs after Jane pushed them around to make a square to support the heavy pan.
The door to the garage opened, and the guys joined them.
“Damn, that smells good,” Alex remarked. “Gonna hit the head.”
He disappeared, and Jane asked, “Hit his head?”
“Take a piss,” Stephanie answered crudely.
“Oh,” she whispered in embarrassment.
It made Jane feel like an idiot. She’d never heard that term before. Right. She was a loser and an outcast. This was the cool kids’ clique all over again. Alex was cool and older than them, too. Roman was the epitome of cool. And Stephanie radiated cool, head above the rest coolness actually. And she
