The Girl in Red

“For some time—perhaps two weeks or so—I saw nobody at all. As far as I knew everyone in town had either gotten sick or left. I occasionally walked up and down the road looking for signs of other survivors, but saw no one.

“Then one day I heard an engine, followed by voices out in the street—many voices, far too many voices to safely approach. I went to the window and looked out and saw two large pickup trucks filled with young men.”

“How many, do you think?” Red asked.

“How many men?” D.J. asked. “Two or three in each cab, and another eight to twelve in the bed of each. Somewhere between twenty and thirty. And they were all armed.”

Thirty young men with guns somewhere out ahead of her path. Red did not like that. It would be easier to avoid them if she didn’t have Sam and Riley, but she did have Sam and Riley and so she would have to find a way to get around.

But going around means extra miles, extra days.

She would have to find a way, even if it meant extra miles and days. It was either that or leave Grandma alone forever. Red was not going to let her grandmother wait by herself, twitching the window curtain at every sound, hoping against hope that her family was returning to her (like D.J.).

So the boys with the guns would have to be dealt with. And she would deal with them. Somehow.

“These young men dispersed throughout the area. They broke doors and windows in some of the houses, but only if they were easy to get into.”

“Did they try this house?” Red asked.

“They tried, but only the front, which was as I’d hoped. I hadn’t bothered fortifying the back, assuming that anyone who came around would move on to the next house rather than continue to try here. My house is modest compared to others in the area, and I thought they wouldn’t think it worth the effort.”

“That was what attracted me,” Red said with a little smile. “I figured the larger houses had already been raided.”

“Besides,” D.J. said, and he smiled a very grim smile. “If they had broken in they would have regretted it. I am not incapable of defending myself.”

Red knew what he meant, and she sighed. “Not you too.”

“Not me too what?”

“You’ve got a gun, right? The gun’s going to fix all your problems.”

“Well, no, but it can fix a certain kind of problem. The kind that comes to my door looking for trouble. You don’t have a gun with you?”

“I don’t like guns,” Red said.

“I don’t like them either, but I do acknowledge their occasional necessity,” D.J. said. “How are you supposed to protect those children without a gun?”

“You think a gun is going to help me more than my brains?” Red asked.

“No, but—”

“No buts. I don’t like guns. The only point and purpose of a gun is to kill, and I am not going to carry something that’s only for killing. Let’s move on.”

He gave her a strange look, like he didn’t understand her. That was perfectly fine with Red. Most people didn’t understand her and she wasn’t looking for their understanding, anyway.

“So the men tried your door, couldn’t get in, moved on?” Red prompted.

“Yes,” D.J. said. “I admit I was slightly confused by their behavior. Nothing they did seemed systematic. They broke into some houses, took useful supplies from a few of those, and others they just seemed to want to destroy for no particular reason. After an hour or two of this they climbed back in their truck and drove away.”

“But it wasn’t the last you saw of them,” Red said.

“No,” D.J. said. “The next day a group of three men came through on what was clearly a patrol. And the patrols continued every day at approximately two-hour intervals.”

“They’ve obviously got some kind of base nearby,” Red said, more to herself than D.J. “You never tried to find out where they were coming from?”

He shook his head, and flushed. “I didn’t want to know, if I am honest with myself. I know what they are doing and that they are not good people. If they found me out on the road or near the place where they are encamped, then they would shoot me on sight. I thought it better to stay here, out of their reach.”

Where it is safe. He didn’t say it out loud, but he didn’t need to.

“You can’t save everybody,” Red said.

“Perhaps I should have tried to save some,” D.J. murmured. “People have passed by this house and decided to stay the night in one of the open homes. Those people are always, always caught by this group and their patrols. I could have warned them.”

“And if they didn’t listen?” Red asked. “What if you warned them and then they told those men that you were here in this house? What would have happened then?”

“Yes, I understand what you are saying,” D.J. said. “But somehow I feel I should do—should have done—more. There were children. Sometimes, there were children.”

“If you had done more you might not have been here when we needed you,” Red said.

“I haven’t done anything so extraordinary for you,” D.J. said.

“Don’t kid yourself,” Red said. “A bath feels pretty extraordinary after so many weeks on the road.”