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“Yeah, can’t hurt.”
As Chuck rolled forward, Arlys wrote down the names in her notepad.
Not just safety in numbers, she thought. Strength in them.
* * *
With pileups and jams of abandoned cars beyond even the Humvee’s muscle to clear, the journey across New Jersey involved winding, back-tracking, detouring.
When they finally crossed into Pennsylvania, Chuck pumped a fist in the air, let out a “Woot!”
“Crossed ourselves another state line, ladies. I’m going to hunt up a pit stop. This big girl’s getting thirsty.”
They turned onto what proved to be the main street of what Arlys thought of as a hamlet—too small to be a town. Quiet as a tomb now, one buried in snow. A Christmas card, she thought, a traditional ideal. Her vision of it only sharpened when she watched a small herd of deer wander by what was billed as Arnette’s Salon for Hair and Nails as if they roamed the forest.
People had known their neighbors here, she thought. Had gossiped with them and about them. Surely Arnette had often patronized Billy’s Dine In or Out. Pie at the counter? she wondered. Surely there’d been a counter and a sassy waitress behind it pushing pie.
Where was Arnette now? And Billy? That sassy waitress?
They passed through, left it to the deer.
A half mile out, Chuck turned into a gas station/convenience store.
“Probably bathrooms inside.” He gave the windows, the glass doors a long look. “Looks intact—small population around here. It’s going to be locked up, but—”
“We’ll get in.” Arlys pushed open her door, stepped out into pristine snow. She walked to the SUV; Fred dashed to it.
“Can I take one? I mean hold one?”
“She’s getting fussy.” Katie lifted a baby into Fred’s waiting arms. “I have to feed her.”
“I don’t mind. Oh, she’s so sweet. What’s her name?”
“She’s Hannah.”
“Sweet Hannah. I’ll take her inside for you. Hannah’s hungry,” she crooned as the baby whimpered. “Maybe it’s not locked. It’s all right, Hannah,” she soothed as she walked. “Your mama’s going to feed you.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Arlys held out a hand to Rachel.
“It’s really nice to meet somebody with a … Is that a Humvee?”
“Chuck’s.”
“It’s open!” Fred looked back with a sparkling smile.
Faeries could get into locked places, Arlys remembered.
As Rachel bent to take a baby from Katie, Jonah called out.
“Don’t go in! Wait.” He jogged toward Fred. “Let me just check it out first.”
“He’s right.” Arlys strode over to join them. “Wait, Fred. Just in case.”
Jonah gave Arlys a long look when she took out the gun from under her coat. Then nodded. “I’ll take left, you take right.”
They moved in, down thinly stocked shelves, by a counter with its open and empty cash register. By tacit agreement she pushed open the door of the women’s room, he the men’s.
Once satisfied, Jonah shifted his gun to his left hand, held out his right. “Jonah.”
She did the same. “Arlys. Okay, Fred!”
“Chuck says the pumps are on.” Fred kissed the baby who now lay contentedly in her arms. “He’s gassing up the Humvee.”
“I guess this is as good a place as any to get acquainted.” Jonah put his gun away as Rachel and Katie came in. “I’ll fill up our tank.”
“We need a chair for Katie.” Fred beamed. “So she can sit and feed Hannah.”
“There’s one in the back.” Arlys holstered her gun. “I’ll get it.”
“I could hold—which one is that?”
“This is Duncan.”
“I can hold Duncan while you feed Hannah.” Fred managed the exchange smoothly, then covered Duncan’s face with little kisses.
“You’re so good with them.”
“I’m going to have half a dozen one day. Duncan’s wide awake. Hello, Duncan! He says he needs to be changed.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“I can do it.”
“That’d be great,” Rachel said before Katie could speak. She handed Fred a diaper bag. “All the basics are in there.”
“There’s a changing table in the bathroom.” Arlys rolled out a desk chair. “I didn’t try the water, but if the pumps are running, there’s got to be power.”
“I hope so because our new mother needs a hot meal. Don’t say you’re fine, Katie. You’ve got three mouths to feed, and have to stay healthy and strong. There’s probably a microwave in here.”
Arlys pointed.
“Great. Maybe you could heat something up for her? I want to check out the over-the-counter meds they might have left. I’m a doctor.”
“Now I’m even happier to meet you. I saw a couple of cans of beef stew.”
“Perfect. I’ll see about more baby supplies while I’m at it. Can’t go overboard there with three.”
Arlys scavenged the shelves—no point depleting their own supplies. She heated stew, canned ravioli, a can of chicken noodle soup in doubled paper bowls in the microwave. As she worked, she saw the men get in the vehicles, pull away from the pumps.
Getting them out of sight of the road, she thought.
Just in case.
She set the various choices on the checkout counter, took some stew to Katie.
“Thanks. She’s slowing down, so nearly done.”
“Fred?”
“She took Antonia to change.” Eyes exhausted, Katie smiled. “She’s wonderful.”
“You have no idea. I have to say you look amazing for a woman who had triplets no more than days ago.”
Katie looked down at Hannah. “Twins. Hannah was orphaned. Her mother died giving birth. She was alone in the hospital because everyone was sick or dead. So we took her with us. She’s mine now.”
Katie looked up, those exhausted eyes fierce. “Just as much mine.”
“We’ll help you protect the babies.” Fred carried Antonia back. “All your babies.”
“The babies and I wouldn’t be here without Jonah and Rachel. Part of me believed they were the last decent people left on Earth. I think we were meant to meet you. Everything so horrible, and yet we met you. We met people who’d protect babies and help strangers. We’ll help you.”
“Yes, we will.” Rachel came back with a bulging bag. “Over-the-counter meds, basic vitamins, and first aid. Look through it, take whatever you need. Well, minus the baby-care items.”
Pushing a hand through her curly mop of hair, Rachel glanced toward the counter. “That up for grabs?”
“You bet.”
“I’m starving.”
“Arlys got cut on her arm.” Fred jiggled the baby. “Could you look at it?”
Rachel smiled. “The doctor is in.”
Arlys sat on a counter while Rachel cleaned and re-bandaged the cut.
“This could have used a few stitches. You’re going to have a scar.”
“Least of my worries.”
“It’s
healing well.”
“What kind of a doctor?”
“Emergency Medicine.”
“Handier and handier.” Testing her arm, Arlys looked over at Katie—nursing another baby and eating stew one-handed, while Fred sat on the floor snuggling the other babies.
“Did you deliver the twins?”
“No. Jonah did. He found Katie in labor, got her into the hospital. We were in crisis. The only OB left was trying to save Hannah and her mother, so Jonah delivered the twins. He’s a paramedic.”
“This is our lucky day.”
“Ours, too.” Rachel picked up a bowl of soup—the men had returned and grabbed up the raviolis. “We wouldn’t have gotten this far today if you hadn’t cleared the way. We need to stick together.”
“Couldn’t agree more. We’re going to need to find real shelter tonight.” Like Rachel, she again glanced toward Katie and the baby in her arms. “Somewhere warm.”
“The town we just went through looked promising, but you want to push on. Why Ohio?”
“My parents, my brother. I’m hoping.”
Nodding, Rachel ate more soup. “We push on.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lana woke shuddering, on the edge of a scream. She clutched a fist to her chest, to the heart that felt it would leap out of her, leave her hollow.
