Part 10 (1/2)
”No.” The man shook his head in frustration. ”That's all the way on the other side of town, and I don't want to leave my wife and kids home alone for that long. All I need is four. Two, even. I can make due with two. It's for my daughter.”
”Yeah,” Russ replied. ”You told us that already.”
”Well, then help me out. Please?”
The urge to punch him came over me suddenly, and its intensity was frightening. Fist clenched, I stepped toward him, intending to pop him right in the mouth. I saw it clearly in my mind. Me hitting him. Him hitting the floor. And then Russ and I stomping him until we heard his ribs snap, one by one. Until the broken shards jutted from his skin. Until we felt his teeth shatter beneath our heels. Until he coughed blood. Until his nose caved in and his eyes popped out. Until he stopped his f.u.c.king whining, after which we'd help ourselves to the contents of his shopping cart. Until he was dead. Mangled.
Pulped.
The images sickened me, but at the same time, they were exciting, too. I remembered what Christy had said the night before-how she'd gotten turned on when she thought about hurting me. I licked my lips and took another step. The man must have seen something in my expression or body language because he stopped talking and hurried away with his cart.
Struggling with the competing impulses, I quickly dug through our loot and found a pack of batteries.
”Hey,” I called after him.
He turned and I tossed the package at him. The guy in the leather jacket flinched. Then his eyes widened in surprise. He caught the pack, fumbled with it, almost dropping both the batteries and his flashlight, and then glanced back up at me. His eyes were still wide, his expression one of stunned confusion. Sweat stood out on his brow, visible in the dim light.
”Th-thanks.”
”You're welcome. What's your name?”
”My what?”
”Your name.”
”O-ollie. Ollie Griffin.”
”Mine's Robbie, and this is Russ. Introduce yourself next time, Ollie. Names are important. They were always important, I guess, but they're even more important now. They help us know each other.”
”Yeah?” His look of confusion grew.
”If we know each other,” I explained, ”then it's harder to get mad when we disagree about something, and if we don't get mad at each other, this situation will go a lot smoother for everybody. No need for things to turn violent. Know what I mean?”
He nodded slowly. ”I think I do. It's been eating at you, too, hasn't it? You're having visions? Urges?”
I nodded.
He sighed. ”Thank G.o.d. I thought I was the only one.”
”Nope. We're all in this together.”
I pushed our cart toward the door. Russ stared at me, incredulous, and then hurried to catch up.
”The f.u.c.k, Robbie?”
”What?”
”What did you do that for?”
”Don't worry,” I said. ”I didn't give him your batteries. They were out of my share.”
”I don't give a s.h.i.+t about the batteries. I'm just surprised. I thought for sure that you were gonna kick the s.h.i.+t out of him.”
”So did I.”
”I sure felt like it. I got this weird headache, throbbing right behind my eyes. All I wanted to do was kill the son of a b.i.t.c.h. Took everything I had not to jump him.”
”Me too. But we didn't, so it's all good.”
”But why didn't we? Both of us had the urge to. Why didn't we act on it?”
”Because human beings aren't supposed to act that way.”
Russ laughed. ”You really believe that, Robbie?”
I shrugged. ”Maybe we're subconsciously trying to make up for yesterday, with that mother and her baby taking our car. Maybe the darkness hasn't completely claimed us yet.”
Then we went outside, and it was still dark, and I wondered if maybe we were just clinging to hope because we hadn't yet realized that it had claimed us after all. My spirits plummeted.
Russ must have noticed my mood. ”And another thing?”
”What?”
”That was the worst Robert DeNiro impression I've ever heard.”
”What are you talking about?”
”Back there. 'We're all in this together.' Somebody's watched Brazil Brazil one too many times.” one too many times.”
”It's a good movie. What can I say?”
We took turns pus.h.i.+ng the cart. It was heavy and bulky and the wheels kept jamming every time we hit a branch or a stone or a crack in the sidewalk. Our stuff tumbled off of it several times. We pa.s.sed other people-looters, like us, or frightened individuals looking for information, promises that help would arrive soon, or just a friendly face among the crowd of strangers. Some of them made small talk. Others ignored everyone around them. Some of the people looked dangerous. Most seemed scared, and one or two were almost catatonic, shuffling by like zombies, oblivious to everything else. I was a little surprised that no one tried to stop us. I mean, here we were, pus.h.i.+ng this big-a.s.s cart loaded down with stuff. Stealing from us would have saved someone a lot of time. A few pa.s.sersby eyed our loot, but none made a move to take it. Maybe they were just as frazzled as we were, or maybe the .357 strapped to Russ's hip was a deterrent. I don't know. Whatever the reason, I was grateful.
One guy stood on the roof of his house as we pa.s.sed by, s.h.i.+ning a powerful, handheld spotlight-the kind that cops and hunters use-into the sky. The darkness swallowed the beam, just like all the others, but the man kept at it, staring longingly at the sky. We could hear him weeping from the sidewalk.
”They're out there,” he shouted to no one in particular. ”They're out there, waiting.”
”Who?” Russ hollered.
”The aliens. They've been studying us for years, determining our weaknesses and probing our defenses. Now they've done this.”
Russ followed the man's gaze and s.h.i.+vered.
”You thinking about the stars again?” I asked.
”Yeah. It really freaks me out, man. After everything that's happened, I think that scares me the most. I could always count on the stars to be there, you know? No matter what kind of a day I had, no matter how much s.h.i.+t life shoveled on top of me, I could come home at night and the stars would be waiting. But not anymore.”
”No,” I agreed. ”Not anymore.”
”They're out there,” the man on the roof shouted again. ”They'll be coming soon. This is the endgame.”