Chapter 20
The empty beds next to me let me know Keisha and Lucia have already started their day. How did I sleep so late? I hate the idea of them alone with that stranger. I quickly pull on my boots and weave my machete and hunting knife through my belt before rushing downstairs.
When I come around the corner, Lucia, Keisha, and Ramsey sit by the fireplace in the dining room, smiling and laughing.
The smell of eggs is overwhelming, and I realize I haven’t eaten anything that didn’t come from a can or a plastic package in days.
I’m still annoyed they left me alone upstairs, but the thought of breakfast lifts my mood.
Keisha smiles warmly and hands me a hot mug of tea.
The first sip feels like medicine, and I almost start to question our plans for a supply run.
It sure would be nice to just stay here and rest for a day.
My muscles ache from paddling and sitting for days on end.
My skin peels and stings from the sun, and I’ve practically scratched my mosquito bites into open wounds. Even one day to recover would be nice.
I turn to look out the wide windows overlooking the patio and see the muddy river stretching south out of sight. The current pulls ripples into its surface. As calm as it looks outside, yesterday’s events remind me that this place isn’t as safe as it seems. No place will ever be safe again.
While the eggs cook and the others talk, I find a pen and a napkin at the bar and begin a list. Backpacks, spare clothes, water bottles, lightweight packaged food, cooking supplies, anything that will start a fire, sunscreen, binoculars, toothbrushes—the list goes on and on.
“Breakfast is served!” Ramsey says, smiling and obviously proud of himself.
I watch him carry the hot skillet over to the table and search his expression, looking for signs of danger.
All I can see is infatuation. He serves Keisha first and seems to orbit around her.
It’s off-putting but nonthreatening. I decide to let my guard down for the moment.
We sit together and eat scrambled eggs, oranges, and stale bread that is probably just hours away from growing mold, but it’s the best breakfast I can remember.
“We really can’t thank you enough,” Keisha says between bites.
“It’s my pleasure. Really. Feels good to not be alone anymore.”
“What about the people in town? Naples, I think you called it? Are there any people left?” I ask.
“Well, see, the sickness didn’t get to us until a couple days after Chicago fell.
We’re pretty isolated out here, and a lot of us thought it’d be contained before it ever made its way out here to the river bottoms. It only took one sick guy to blow that theory to bits.
Best I can tell, he was coming from the east. Springfield, maybe?
Coulda been Jacksonville, but I guess it doesn’t really matter.
He rolled into town barely alive with a big bite taken out of his leg.
Thing is, nobody found him in time to get him in the brain.
He died in his truck, parked off Main Street.
When the local sheriff came through, he thought the guy was drunk.
He knocked on the window, opened the truck door, and shouted at the guy to wake up.
Well, as you can imagine, he did. Caught the sheriff right in the throat and then took down a couple guys on his way into town.
It’s not a big town, mind you. All it took was somebody’s car alarm, and the whole fleet of them stood up.
” Ramsey shakes his head as if trying to shoo away the memory.
“Did you see all this happen?” I ask.
“Naw, one of the new deputies was riding along with the sheriff. Saw the whole thing and lived to tell the tale,” he explains.
“I’d imagine about a quarter of the town lost their lives in one fell swoop.
Another quarter headed to the school a few miles south in the next town over.
They set up a shelter there. The rest of us just stayed put. ” He shrugs his shoulders.
“Do you know who left for the shelter and who stayed in their homes?” I ask.
“I have a pretty good sense, I guess.”
“Great. We need to find supplies. Can you take us to the best spots to find these?” I pull my napkin list out of my pocket and hand it to him.
Keisha gives me a look that tells me I’m being too aggressive. I shrug and shift my attention back to Ramsey as he carefully reads the list.
“I’m sure there are families who left behind stuff like this. Though I don’t think the people left here in town would take too kindly to strangers scavenging in the houses of their neighbors,” he says, sliding my list back to me.
“So we go at night,” I say.
Ramsey’s mouth twitches, and his eyebrows narrow.
He definitely doesn’t want us going into town.
“Why don’t you rest up here for a few days? We can worry about supplies later. There’s plenty of food and water here.”
“Look, if this place gets overrun, we need to be able to leave fast. And I want to leave with more than my weapons and the clothes on my back,” I say firmly, my eyes narrowing.
“We need the safety of supplies. It’s fine; you don’t have to help us,” I say dismissively.
“The three of us have made it this far. We’ll go by ourselves.
” I search his face for a reaction. I see a flicker of panic, and his eyes flash to Keisha.
“Now, now, no need to fuss. I think I know where we might find some of this stuff. I’ll take y’all, but we’re going to need a day to prepare. Just one day, and then we can go. Keisha, you don’t mind waiting one more day, do you?” he says, turning toward her.
Keisha’s eyes meet mine. She looks torn. I want her to tell him no, to stand by me and insist that we go today. I can see the conflict on her face. She takes an extra breath, then sides with him.
“That’s awfully nice of you, Ramsey,” Keisha says, placing her hand on his upper arm gently.
I know it’s not real affection. She told me so last night.
But my stomach still rolls. “I’d feel much better if you were with us.
We can spend the day preparing, then go first thing in the morning.
” Then Keisha coughs. Coughs again. Sneezes.
“G’bless you,” Ramsey says affectionately, completely oblivious to the signal Keisha just gave me.
I shut down the argument on my lips. I’m not exactly sure why Keisha would side with this asshole, but obviously her gut is telling her we shouldn’t push it, and she found a way to tell me to just go with it. I decide to trust her.
“Well, that’s settled then,” he says, slapping his thigh and grinning at me, attempting to defuse the building tension.
When we finish eating, Ramsey calls me over toward the bar, where he stands at the frothing, soap-filled sink.
“Help me with these dishes, Quinn?” he asks, just a bit too sweetly, scrubbing at a pan.
Annoyed, I join him at the bar while Keisha and Lucia clear the rest of the dishes and wipe down the table.
“Here,” he says, handing me a dripping plate. “I’ll wash, you dry.”
I grab a towel and wipe the plate carefully as Keisha brings the mugs from the dining room. As she walks away, Ramsey speaks in a low voice so only I can hear.
“I saw what you did to that little girl in the water.” I study his face. Where the hell is he going with this?
“I don’t know what you think you saw, but that was an accident,” I spit back.
“Guess I’d better be lookin’ after you then. Wouldn’t want any more accidents to happen to those nice girls over there, now would we?” His chin tilts to the side, challenging me. I glare back at him, and for the first time I realize he can see what I am.
“Stay out of this,” I say, baring my teeth.
“Watch yourself, girly.” He gives me that stupid lopsided grin, tips an imaginary cowboy hat, and walks back to the dining room.
I follow a few steps behind him, leaving the last few dishes to air dry, trying to make sense of what just happened.
I know a few things for sure. He sees me.
He thinks I’m a danger to Keisha and Lucia and wants to protect them.
We need to get out of this place…and fast. I rearrange my face and my posture and walk into the dining room to join the others.
* * *
On one of the dining room tables, Ramsey has laid out a large sheet of paper. As he draws, he explains the layout of the town of Naples, Illinois. It’s a crude rendering, but the river behind us helps me to orient myself.
“Now, keep in mind when this whole thing started, Naples didn’t even have one hundred fifty people living here.
If I had to guess, there are about fifty of us left.
The homes in this area are all spread out.
There are a few families that I think are still hunkered down here, here, and here,” he says, placing a tiny X on the map for every off-limits home.
“These families here and here lost everyone,” he says, circling a few homes next to the highway that runs parallel to the river.
“And I know for sure these four families packed up and went to the high school shelter way over here.”
“So, these empty homes are the ones where we scavenge?” I ask, trying to keep my voice neutral as if our little conversation never happened.
“Not quite. We can’t just hit empty homes.
We need to hit empty homes next to empty homes.
We can’t have any neighbors seeing what we’re up to.
Now keep in mind, folks down here don’t have much, and if they left for the shelter in town, they woulda brought everything they own right along with them,” he explains.
I nod. “So which houses do you suggest we visit?”
Ramsey stares at the map and chews his lip, then circles two houses with a bold stroke. One close to our current location and another farther east near the highway. “Those are your best bets.”
“Then that’s where we’ll go. We sure are lucky we ran into you,” Keisha says warmly. “Now it’s our turn to pitch in. Since we’ve got this whole day ahead of us, let us get this dining room and kitchen cleaned up for you. We insist, don’t we, girls?” Keisha asks, as if we have a choice.
“It’s the least we can do,” Lucia nearly whispers right on cue. I roll my eyes.
There’s no use arguing with Keisha, and her idea is pretty brilliant.
We need to continue to stay on Ramsey’s good side, and this keeps us from seeming like useless freeloaders.
So we spend the morning putting the dining room back together, throwing out all the rotting food and stained tablecloths, and getting the kitchen back in working order.
We find some cleaning supplies in a closet, and before long you’d never know this restaurant had been touched by the carrier plague.
The only area Ramsey won’t let us touch is the kitchen pantry. While we’re busy with the dining room, he pulls the body from the pantry himself. I watch out the window as he sends it down the river. Soon, the air inside the restaurant is actually breathable.
Somewhere around lunchtime we finish and eat another round of tuna and crackers; then we spend the rest of the day playing cards with an old deck Ramsey found behind the bar. It isn’t exactly the day of rest that I imagined, but it beats another day in the canoe.
When the sun sets and it’s time for bed, I’m buzzing with excitement. I can’t wait to see what we’ll find in those houses, and I’m hoping I can convince Ramsey to take us to more than the two he showed us on his map. We need enough supplies so we can get the hell out of here.