Chapter 56 Change
Gunnar finished equipping the cellar with some new supplies, emergency food and water, since he spent far too much time down there using up the reserves. Hunter had led him on a day trip to the treed mountains past the snobbier end of the city and they had found a deer, which had transformed into a good supply of dried meat that he had to hide from Hunter as the mutt's appetite never ended.
The old homeowner had also been a hunter. He had kept and a notebook and a voice recorder about his hobby that Gunnar used to his advantage. The pages of writing intimidated Gunnar as the letters began to swirl the more he stared at each cluster, so he stuck with the pictures and the recorder before this turned into school all over again.
The weapons practice with Trevor had paid off, and he'd been able to use a knife to take the animal down. Hunter had just known how to draw the deer to the right spot, and Gunnar lunged after that. Bit of a rush, being strong enough to take down his own meal with his bare hands. If he ever needed to fight off intruders, he'd be in better shape, although the ribs that the deer had helped bruise in the struggle argued with that.
As if they could read his mind, voices floated over from the front yard.
"This should be it," a higher, woman's voice said.
"You're sure it's so far out of the city?"
His hand went for the knife without even having to think about it. He trod a quiet and careful trail toward the front. The group was big: a grown man in good shape, a woman, some others and... red hair. He blinked twice to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.
"These were the coordinates we looked up on the map, right Quinton?"
She turned and Gunnar glimpsed her mud-coated boots, the tight black material she liked to call pants, and a baggy, beige jacket that they'd give to someone in juvy. Her head whipped around from the front porch to the road leading in. Did she think the place was a dump or a home? This was the first time he could be proud of a place he had lived. With nothing to compare it to, maybe he was just imagining its niceness.
Hunter came out of the backyard and bounded toward him with another rabbit. Gunnar's eyes widened, and he shook his head. Worst guard dog. He would give away Gunnar's position and advantage. Even if it was Mischa, he still had no idea what she or the others wanted. There weren't enough rooms to share either if that's what they sought.
As Hunter's paws bounced off the gravel and sand, the heads turned in his direction. Gunnar stashed the knife in his back pocket. He stood then began to walk, maybe selling the lie that he too had just come around the corner. Not likely, but worth a try.
"Gunnar," Mischa cried. Her thin body could hardly keep up with her feet, kicking up dust in the faces of the others.
Her arms felt foreign around his body, and he flinched at first, forgetting what a tender touch was like. Relax, it's Mischa. He wrapped his arms around her warm body and ran his hand over the rough fabric of her jacket. There was a person under there, a woman he had assumed was dead for months and here she was, in his arms. His chest swelled and he looked down at her fiery hair.
"I thought ya were dead."
"I've very much alive," she said with a smile.
Everything else disappeared and it was as if they were still holding each other as the storm rolled over, as if not even a minute had gone by.
But it had.
"Where were ya? Why are ya here?"
Her smile kept the world at bay until she opened her mouth to speak. "We came to find you guys. It's a long story, but I figured out where you were staying, and we've been making our way here ever since."
"You came all the way here for me?"
"For you and Vita. How is she?"
Vita... why did that sound familiar? "Who?"
"It's not funny anymore, Gunnar. My friend. Blonde. Petite." Nothing. Mischa's eyes pleaded with him. He wanted to help but couldn't make sense of what she was saying. "The one I was with the night of the storms."
"Oh her. She's off with Rob somewhere."
The smile vanished, and her arms crossed over her chest like a pissed-off teacher. "She's where?"
"I haven't seen her in months, so anywhere really?"
"You left her with that douche bag?"
He couldn't enjoy the insult at Rob's expense with that glare on her face. "Listen, she didn't like me none. Ya gotta understand how things work."
"You mean that you feel it's okay to abandon people? That you have no conscience."
Everything he had built and become came crashing down like the buildings in the storms. How many times had he proved her statement right?
Vita
Aida
Trevor
But she wouldn't win, because she had walked away too. "Fuck you! Where were ya when the world went to shit? We looked for ya for weeks. And now ya show up throwing punches. Get out, all of ya. I don't need this."
Tears sprung to her eyes. "Gunnar, I didn't choose to leave. I was taken against my will and held hostage at a facility we just escaped from."
"Did this place have food and water?" Mischa's head dropped. "Heat, shelter, a safe place where ya didn't need to carry a weapon to keep yourself alive?" His hands trembled at his sides.
"Yes, but-"
"But what, Mischa? If someone did all that for me, I'd be happy to save your friend, but I hardly kept myself alive. I'm sorry your friend's missing, but it's not my fault."
A girl he hadn't noticed earlier stepped forward. "He's right, Mischa. Once you get over the shock, you'll appreciate the fact that you even managed to find anyone alive."
Mischa walked back over to a tall guy who took her in his arms. Asshole.
"This is a really nice set up you have here," the girl said. "I'm April." She extended her hand.
It took him a few seconds to remember what to do with it. "Gunnar," he said in a quieter voice.
"And this beautiful creature?" she asked as she scratched Hunter on the head.
"Hunter."
"Literal name," she said with a laugh. He looked at her and smiled to pretend he understood. "It suits him."
Gunnar looked down at the rabbit he had completely forgotten in Hunter's mouth. "Shit, well guess we'll be eating rabbit stew. I hope yer all hungry."
All eyes turned toward him, and he took it as a yes. He took the rabbit from Hunter and patted him on the back. "Ya'd better come back with a few more if ya want some too." The dog took off running to the field after that.
April's eyes sparkled like green grass in the sun. "It's almost like he knows what you're saying."
"Yeah, think he does."
They all sat by the campfire after Mischa and her boyfriend had gathered the wood. Gunnar had run out of propane some time ago. April and the other couple, Peyton and Amelia, had a lot of questions about his most recent water system that hadn't been taken down by the strong winds yet. He liked those kinds of questions: the ones he knew the answers to. They hadn't been able to see through him yet, and he nervously awaited the moment when they asked the wrong question and realized he wasn't actually useful or good at much.
He brought some of the dried deer meat up from the cellar and watched the group lick their lips in anticipation. They tried to look all polite and fancy, but it didn't take long before the meat was between their teeth and chewed up at Hunter's pace.
"This is amazing, Gunnar," Mischa spoke to him directly for the first time since their argument. "Where'd you learn how to do this?"
"The guy who used to live here left some tapes and stuff. Some of it is just paranoid rants but this one taught me how to hunt deer and dry their meat. I think it'll get eaten before it goes bad."
"That's incredible." The others nodded in the dying sunlight.
"I mean, I screwed up part of it and some pieces went bad with fly eggs and all that."
"And the rabbit, that was skillful," Amelia added.
"Hunter gets lots of 'em. Surprised there are even any still living 'round these parts. Easy enough to figure out after five or ten."
"How'd you take down the deer?" asked Mischa's boyfriend, the guy with one of those preppy names he couldn't remember.
"Knife."
"You took down a deer with a knife and your bare hands? That's wicked, buddy."
Gunnar bit his lip to keep himself from smiling. The fire and newfound pride warmed his body.
"Sorry to interrupt, but were there anything other than paranoid tapes in the cellar?" Amelia asked.
"A body and some maps, but I cleaned him up a while back."
Amelia insisted on seeing the voice recorders, notebooks and maps after the map, so Gunnar entertained her wish. He brought everything up so they could see it in the natural light. He and Peyton were the only two that didn't get looks of horror on their face as they flipped through each blueprint.
"The man you found, how did he die?" Amelia asked.
"Bullet to the head. What's got ya all worked up?"
"These are blueprints of a colony like the one that we've been living and trapped in since the disaster. This guy must have designed the facility in the mountains and they shot him because he asked too many questions," Amelia said.
Quinton clicked play on the voice recorder one last time.
"It's like a spider web, weaving higher and higher. They have politicians, scientists, military personnel on payroll. For what? I'm still trying to figure out. They've been digging extensively into China's cloud seeding research to create artificial rain, artificial storms. If I'm right, something big is coming, and I don't think we're equipped to handle it."
The following morning when the ground had packed up to leave, Gunnar stared up at his home for the past months, the only place he had ever called his own, and swallowed harshly. Why was it so hard? He had left so many people for dead, but some stupid cabin? God, maybe it was all the women around making him soft. That had to be it.
"C'mon, Hunter. We've got places to be," Gunnar said. But he knew the dog wasn't the one who needed the reminder.
Gunnar walked alongside April as Peyton led the way. He wasn't sure what good a bunch of hippies could do in a fight, especially since his wife seemed to pack a much meaner punch than her husband. Amelia was the kind of lady that commanded respect. Even though he didn't believe the house was all that dangerous after she had insisted they leave, they talked up this random community. He could keep hunting and ducking for cover in every storm, but more people meant more workers, then better stuff. At least that's he got from what Amelia was trying to explain.
"I can't believe how much has changed," Mischa muttered. She looked to the guy with her who gave a brief nod, and she glanced back to April.
"Sorry, Misch, neither of us has ever been to Albuquerque."
"Well Gunnar, you've got-" Her mouth froze at that moment, likely remembering how pissed they were supposed to be at each other.
His face stayed in the same unimpressed line. "Everything changed, Mischa. All of us did."
"Don't say that like it's a bad thing," April said with a smile.
Gunnar ignored her and kept her eyes on Mischa. "Even if ya found your friend, she's so far from being the girl ya were friends with in high school that ya wouldn't even recognize her."
"That's not true. I've been friends with Vita for years. People don't change that much."
"Your friend blow a lotta guys back when ya knew 'er?"
"Gunnar, that's just crude."
"Ya, well so is she now, so don'cha go talking 'bout what ya didn't see."
Mischa kept walking but her speed slowed so she could join the back row. "Why'd she do it?"
"Why'd ya think? She's a tiny annoying little thing that no one would want to keep around. Got no skills to keep her alive. Gotta convince men to feed and protect her somehow."
Mischa's face twisted and she narrowed her eyes. "You're disgusting."
"Rob's disgusting. I didn't go near her. I am not like that. Go back to your boyfriend. We're done talking."
"He's-" but she stopped when he turned around to look at her. Poor asshole. Gunnar used to get that look in his eye too, but good riddance to that. Not worth the time.
Peyton asked for Gunnar's help at the front once they got closer to figure out which streets could have ambushes, which stores still had food and goods. Ambushes were less often now, not enough people left to be worth killing them without a reason. There were plenty of animals to be eaten, and they were much safer meat. Finding food was unlikely too.
They stopped at one box store that Gunnar hadn't tried yet. Back entrance for Amelia, him and the boyfriend. The rest stayed outside as backup, even though they'd sent in the strongest. Most of the stuff left was too big to carry or useless crap like furniture. He figured they were looking for the standard fare: food, liquids, light, heat, and fuel. The pets section intrigued him. Nobody gave a shit about pets anymore so he had some selection. He grabbed a shiny bowl and a black collar. The treats and food section had been torn into along with some dog food. He didn't envy the sick, desperate bastard who was stuck doing that.
"Don't move. I have a knife and I'm not afraid to cut you."
Gunnar froze at the sound of that voice. No chance in hell that was her. He turned around slowly just to check and a smile grew on his face.
She narrowed her eyes. "I said don't move. You stupid or something?"
"If ya'd threatened to stab me, maybe I'dda listened. But a cut? Rocks, glass, paper, they all cut shit without killing it."
The knife shook in her small hand. "Fine, I'll stab you through the heart if you take another step. Satisfied?"
"Try smiling. It'd make ya look like ya'd enjoy it and be scarier."
"I swear to God, Gunnar. I am going to strangle you."
"Don't change your style. Makes ya look weak and unsure." Her hand gripped the handle of the knife tightly right beside her tangled blond hair. "But really, Vita. It's good to see ya. Specially like this."
"Fuck you."
"What? Ya didn't die and learned how to carry a knife. That's progress. Mischa will get off my case now."
Vita's hold on the knife waivered as her breaths grew more ragged.
"You're lying."
"We the only ones in here? Ya do a sweep when ya came in?"
"Until you showed up."
"Oy! Quinn, get your girlfriend in here. Tell her Vita's alive and in aisle seven."
The boy muttered something, and he took off running. Vita's blue eyes grew bigger.
"Relax; we got no reason to hurt ya. Mischa and her friends walked for two weeks to come and find your sorry ass, and she tore me a new one when she found out I decided not to stick with ya both. Rob's not around is he?"
"He's dead."
"Are ya sure? He's like a cockroach."
Vita nearly laughed but caught herself. "I watched a house burn down with him inside."
"Ya set a house on fire?" His lips curled into a smile.
She crossed her arms and took a step back. "He set the fire. Some kind of moth to a flame gesture to bring you back after you left."
"What kind of idiot does he think I am? Who runs into a burning building?"
Vita's body began to shake as laughs escaped her mouth. The knife tumbled to the floor and she stepped closer, wrapping her arms around him. He froze. Women never acted this way around him. Maybe whatever she was sick with had eaten part of her brain.
"Ya weren't serious about strangling, were ya?"
"It's a hug, Gunnar. Blame the stupid hormones."
He didn't really know what she meant but welcomed her warmth. After so many months and stupid changes, it was nice to have one person who was consistent with her interactions toward him. Except for this hug, but his arms didn't feel like letting her go.
"Ya don't smell like a whorehouse anymore."
"You're still the worst. Of course, you would know what a whorehouse smells like."
"Yeah, Rob's bedroom."
She sniffled and a couple times, and her tears began to soak through his shirt. "Why did you tell me he was a good guy?"
Gunnar looked down at the top of her head. "I didn't mean to. He was alright to me sometimes. But not to girls, not to you. You let him do those things."
"You think I had a choice? I thought I was sick and dying. I knew I wasn't going to get a free ride, not with you two, or anyone else."
"You're not sick anymore?"
"No, it was just--"
"Just what?"
"Forget about it."
His mind usually didn't want to work more than it had to when it came to people, but something about the scared look in her eyes convinced him otherwise. Hormones, puking, and it all started after the disaster but hadn't killed her and wasn't an illness anymore. Other than sleeping with Rob... Oh shit. One of the Shadow's girlfriends had gotten knocked up a while ago and spent a bit too much time around them. He didn't want to check out Vita, but Eduardo had always bragged about his baby momma's tits.
His gaze shifted. Shit.
"It's a kid," he muttered. "Rob's, right?" Her breathing hitched, and she nodded into his chest. "Why keep it?"
"Sometimes good things can come out of a bad place." She looked up at him with glassy eyes.
Before he could really process her words, Mischa's voice rang out. "Vita, is that really you?"
"You weren't lying," she whispered, and she turned around to face her 'best friend'.
Gunnar may have been imagining it, but Vita looked far more comfortable when it was just the two of them. Weird since she hated him so much. He caught her wandering eyes and she mouthed. 'Don't say anything.'
Gunnar gave her a quick nod. He picked up the bowl and collar for Hunter and walked off to another section where Peyton called him over right away.
"Gunnar, these guys are from the community we've been talking about." He slung his arm around Gunnar's shoulder. Why was everyone so touchy-feely today? "He's had a pretty radical set up on the West side. Water collection and filtration system, and he was even able to hunt and dry his own meat."
The way Peyton kept raving about Gunnar's hunting skills made him a bit uncomfortable. He was just keeping himself fed and had no clue if he could even do it again. Once was just plain good luck.
"I hope you'll be joining us then, Gunnar. I'm Reggie."
Gunnar knew what to do with the handshake this time and nodded afterward. He eyed the man's tattoos for recognizable symbols. If he was part of a rival gang, Gunnar would need to run off fast. He didn't doubt that allegiances still stood. The tattoos just seemed to be a picture of some gladiator soldier and a few other touches. Art ink, not a label. He grabbed his left arm to cover up his own brand in shame.
"I'll be honest, Peyton. Not a lot of us expected to see you back alive. Cynthia and Mr. M will be thrilled. What about Alex and June?"
"Alex hitched a ride to Pagosa Springs to meet back up with June and said he'd figure it out from there."
"That's rough. How's it looking up there?"
"We're fortunate, very fortunate, for now."
Gunnar shivered at that last tone. He'd forgotten what it meant to fear something larger than himself for a while.
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro