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I pushed against Harry and woke him up. He looked at me like he didn’t know who I was. “What? Um, what? What’s going on?”
“Nothing, nothing really. I just wanted to warn you—I’m going to take a little field trip. ”
“What? Are you kidding?”
“No, I’m not. A friend of mine is stuck over at the Read House and I’m going to try to catch up with him. ”
“Do you know what ‘martial law’ means?”
“I do, yes. But I hear the cops are headed down towards the river right now. It ought to be quiet between here and the hotel, and it’s only a couple of blocks,” I told him, betting he didn’t know the exact distance.
“All right. Sure. But why? What time is it?” He patted himself down, feeling for his watch or a cell phone.
“It’s about eleven. It’s not that late. I won’t be gone but a few hours, probably,” I said, but even as it came out of my mouth, I knew there was no telling if it was true.
He sighed and leaned back, putting his hand over his eyes for a minute as if he were trying to think. “All right. Do what you’re going to. There’s nothing happening here, anyway. And don’t get me wrong—I’m glad you took the time to try and work with nervous-boy over here, but I’m not one hundred percent crushed that the family meeting fell through. Granted, I couldn’t have anticipated how spectacularly it would fall through, and I wish that the circumstances could have been different, obviously—”
“Well, obviously, yeah. ”
“Yes. But. Maybe a rescheduling isn’t the worst of all possible ideas. ”
“I’m relieved to hear you say it. ”
We both looked down at the sleeping Malachi, as if he were our own weird child. “You want to wake him up and say goodbye?” Harry asked, and I knew that he knew I wasn’t coming back any time soon. I don’t know why I’d bothered to try to reassure him otherwise.
“No. Better not. He’ll only make a stink. I think you two should pack up and make your way out as soon as they let you. Get back to Florida safely. There’s nothing y’all can do here except be refugees. If you can get out, get out. ”
“There ought to be shuttles before long, or buses,” he murmured. “Something to take us outside the city, past the ridges. ”
“One would think,” I agreed.
“We can’t stay here forever. They’ll have to start shipping us out soon. Worst comes to worst, when the rain lets up and we’re awake good, we’ll make a walk for it. Once we get beyond the tunnels, it shouldn’t be too bad. ”
“I hope not,” I said, and I kissed him on the cheek. “Look, I’m going to go. If it looks like I’ll be able to come back before morning, I will. If I can’t, I can’t. I’ll call. ”
I took one last look at my sleeping brother and nodded at Harry, who nodded back. Then, with carefully-placed steps, I began to tiptoe my way through the sprawled people and their improvised camping places.
The bathroom was up front near the entrance, past the big dome. Getting there was a trick, because it felt like every square foot was occupied. And even late at night there was a short line; it wasn’t a restroom designed to serve hundreds of people at a time.
While I waited for a stall I busied myself at a sink. I washed my face and shook out my hair, then tied it back again in a filthy scarf. What else was I going to do?
I finally scored a stall and spent entirely too long peeling my sticky-damp clothes away. I’d gotten mud and bits of dead grass into crevices I wouldn’t have admitted to knowing about. But there weren’t any showers except in the hotel rooms, and those were being parceled out to the elderly and to people with small children.
But I would have really loved a shower.
People were waiting. I finished up and left the stall to someone else. Outside the big swinging door, the lobby was piled with people, and I picked my way past them to the front door.
Someone at the front desk saw me. She was on the phone and she waved a finger at me, like she wanted me to stop and come talk to her. I ignored her and pushed on the entrance until it gave way. I slipped myself outside.
It wasn’t too cold, but with my clothes still clinging to my skin it felt chillier than it should have. I shivered and closed my arms around myself.
“Miss?” It was a young guy in a security uniform that didn’t fit him well. “Miss? What’s your business out here? We’re trying to keep everyone indoors if possible. ” He beamed a light towards me, but not into my face.
To my right, I saw a couple of guys smoking. Before I could even ask, one of them offered me a cigarette and I took it. I held it up at the security guy and he nodded.
“Thanks,” I said to the guy who’d shared.
“No problem. It’s too crowded in there, man. ” He didn’t look at me when he spoke; he stared out across the train loading zone, packed with cars and blocked off by a big fire engine.
