The Girl in Red

She seemed to be deliberately keeping her head turned away from Red’s leg, so as not to seem rude by staring. Or maybe she’s afraid to see it, Red thought.

“‘Frankenstein’s the doctor, not the monster,’” Riley said in a high-pitched, mimicky voice that was sure to spark a sibling argument. “Why do you always have to be such a know-it-all, Sam?”

“All right, that’s enough,” Red said, smooth and even but with just enough firmness behind it to indicate that enforcement would follow if obedience didn’t.

Just like Dad used to do, Red thought, and the two settled down.

Now that they were all in the tent Red was uncomfortably aware of everyone’s scent, and that scent was pretty damned ripe. It would be hard to give them a proper bath, but she had baby wipes in her bag and she was going to make sure they used them. And maybe she could heat some water to wash their hair, too.

Red turned off the flashlight and rolled onto her side, the blankets wrapped tight around her to keep warmth in. The ground underneath her was rocky and cold, and she wouldn’t have noticed it as much with the padding of her sleeping bag. She shifted a little, listening to Sam and Riley rustling inside the bag, and soon they were both asleep.

Red heard their quiet breaths, long and deep and even, and something else, too—an echo, a memory of a voice that wasn’t even there.

Why do you always have to be such a know-it-all, Red?

CHAPTER 10 Sound and Fury

Before

Why do you always have to be such a know-it-all, Red? Why do we always have to do things only your way?” Adam complained.

They were on their stomachs, peering down from the top of a hill to a town below in a little valley. They’d been there for a half hour or so, by Red’s reckoning, but she wasn’t going to expose herself on the side of the hill until she was sure there was no one lurking down there with a high-powered rifle.

Though how she would be aware of such a thing if the person was indoors she didn’t know. She hoped her spider-sense would tingle or some such thing, that her innate sensitivity to danger would warn her before they got their heads blown off.

Innate sensitivity to danger, my ass, Red thought, and for once the voice in her head didn’t sound like Mama but a more incredulous version of herself. You’re no X-Man, or Sarah Connor, or any other damned superhero from a movie. You’re just a girl who’s scared to death and thinks she’s smart.

There had been no movement below, just like every other residence or village they’d come upon thus far, but she wasn’t taking any chances. The memory of that homegrown militia methodically clearing the gas station mart had stuck with her, and she felt strongly that if those men had come upon her and Adam then, the fake soldiers would have boxed them up and put them in the back of the truck along with the potato chips and beef jerky. If they didn’t kill them first. Red always considered the possibility that for people like that homicide was a viable option.

“There’s nobody down there, Red,” Adam said. “If this was their base we would know. There would be activity, vehicles parked in obvious places. It’s just another abandoned town and this sun is hot and I have had enough. I’m getting skin cancer on the back of my neck.”

Adam stood and arched his back, then stared at his pack without picking it up.

“What?” Red said, coming slowly to her feet.

All her muscles felt frozen in place. She’d been holding tension in her body while they watched the town and she needed to stop that, because the walk was hard enough without adding more stress.

She needed to practice some deep-breathing exercises or something, because if she clenched up like this every time they came to a town, the exhaustion would crack her sooner rather than later. Red rubbed her molars with her tongue. Her tooth enamel wouldn’t make it, either, if she didn’t stop grinding her jaw.

“I don’t want to put my pack on again,” Adam said. “I just don’t.”

Red, who’d never taken hers off, shrugged. “Sorry, little baby. You have to.”

“I’m tired of carrying my damned house on my back like a turtle,” Adam said. “It’s stupid that we’re walking. Like really stupid. Every time we cross a road it’s clear. There are no abandoned cars and no army blockades like you predicted so there is no reason we should be walking. We could be in a car and be there in a few hours.”

“With what gasoline?” Red asked. “How are we supposed to get gas when every pump we’ve passed has been turned off because there’s no electricity?”

“There’s got to be a way to get it out,” Adam said. “How are those militia guys driving around if they don’t have gas?”

“They probably have a stockpile of it somewhere,” Red said.