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  “What do you think is taking them so long?” Taya asked sounding impatient. I noticed that she had given up biting her nails and reverted to pacing.

  “You sure seem worked up. What’s the matter? They know what they are doing, even if it doesn’t seem like it.” I tried to make light of the situation and I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince Taya or myself. That was always Max’s tactic and it seemed to work for him most of the time.

  “I just have a bad feeling. Don’t you? It’s too quiet. I can’t stand this waiting, I am going to go check on them.”

  “What? No Taya, wait. Shit!” I knew I was going to have to go after her and I realy didn’t want to. She had already made it to the yard before I had even started to move. I could see her black-haired head moving around behind the brick wal.

  “Are you insane? You can’t just go stomping around like that,” I said as I ran up near the entrance to the yard just a few feet from where Taya stood.

  “Ssshh!” She snapped around and pointed along the side of the house. I jogged the few feet to her side and tried to see where she was pointing.

  “I don’t see anything.”

  “Right there.” She shook her first finger toward what she was pointing at. Along the back wal of the house, I could barely make out what looked like a sliver of a door. “It looks like an open door. They must have gone inside.”

  Taya scurried ahead before I could protest and held the door open wider for me to see. A triumphant smile grew on her face as I approached. “See… I told you Abby.”

  I bit my tongue when I wanted to snap at her and puled out my knife before entering the room ahead of her. There was no way I was going to let her lead the way if there was some sort of demon waiting inside to kil us. I could at least fight it off and maybe even kil it, I had already kiled one, but Taya wouldn’t stand a chance.

  The room we entered was a standard laundry room, but the fresh scent of detergent alarmed me. A folded stack of towels was on top of the dryer.

  “Someone is here,” Taya said sniffing the towels and sighing deeply.

  “Do you hear that?”

  “Hear what?”

  “Voices. I think I hear voices. That sounds like Carter.” I rushed out of the laundry room and into a halway. I turned to the left toward what I thought were the sounds of Carter. Taya trailed behind me clinging to a towel.

  When I reached the living room I was in complete shock. Carter and Max were seated in a gaudy flowery orange couch and standing in front of them was a very pissed off looking old man holding a rifle. I guessed he was in his late sixties, but his face was layered in wrinkles giving it a permanent scowl.

  The sight of me seemed to have caught him off guard for a moment, but when he saw Taya come barreling in behind me with one of his towels in tow, his face became red.

  “I thought you boys said you were alone?” His voice was deep and scruffy, like he’d spent too many years smoking.

  “You little thieves were trying to pul a fast one on me weren’t ya?”

  “We aren’t thieves!” Taya blurted.

  “Oh realy? What is that you got in your hand then, kid? Is that towel yours? I suppose you were trying to sneak up behind me?” He said eyeing my knife.

  “No.” I slid the knife back into my pant leg. “Listen, we were just worried about them when they didn’t come back, so we went looking for them that’s al.” I tried to inch my way closer to the couch and Taya folowed, stil clinging onto her stolen towel.

  “No, you kids listen. You think you can sneak in here and steal from an old man! Isn’t the world in a bad enough state?”

  “I didn’t mean to steal it.” Taya stepped closer to him, offering the towel. “It just smeled so good and clean. It just… just reminded me of my mom. That’s al.” I saw his face start to soften a bit and I knew this was our chance. I tried to telepathicaly tel Taya to keep it up; we needed this man to feel sorry for us. I knew it was hard for her to speak of her mother, but if that’s what would get us out of this mess then that is what had to be done.

  “She used the same detergent,” Taya said sounding much like a little child. He looked down at the towel and then at her.

  “You can keep it.”

  Taya’s face instantly lit up and she hugged it like it was a teddy bear.

  “Ah hel,” He said lowering his rifle and I saw Max and Carter start to relax. They each released a deep breath and I tried to curse them each out for being so stupid, hoping that they could read lips.

  “What are you kids doing?”

  “We are trying to get to New Mexico. We heard a transmission that there is a safe zone there.” Taya blurted out like she was teling someone she knew wel. I thought that I was going to have to yel at her too. We couldn’t go around teling every crazy person we found what we were doing. We didn’t even know this man.

  “That transmission cut out weeks ago kid, what are you going there for?”

  “There are stil people there,” Carter quickly corrected him. “They just don’t have the power to run the transmissions anymore. They are stil there.”

  “You’re grasping at straws kid,” The old man said as he settled down in an arm chair. “Go ahead sit down you two, I ain’t gonna bite ya.” Taya and I sat on the couch with Carter and Max. Fear was starting to trickle through me, causing the hairs on my arms to stand on end. My biggest fear was exactly what this old man was saying. There was no one left in New Mexico. My urge to find a radio grew even stronger. Hearing the transmission was our only way to know for sure that we were making the right choice. That we hadn’t come al this way for nothing.

  “How do you know that no one is there?” Max asked after looking at me and realizing the fear written plainly on my face.

  “They ain’t playing the transmissions any more are they? Isn’t that proof enough for ya?”

  “Obviously not,” Carter said with disdain. I knew he didn’t want to be wrong. That we had risked our lives to make this journey for nothing. He had promised us al that going there was our only way to stay safe, that it was the only way we would survive. It was because of his urging that we left home. I didn’t want to think of what Carter would do if he was wrong.

  “Look, sir.”

  “You can cal me Charlie.”

  “Look Charlie,” I said. “We are just passing through. We didn’t mean you any harm. We can just leave and be out of your way.” I looked to the others and started to sit up. “Ya’l wanna stay for lunch?”

  “Huh?”

  “Listen, I haven’t seen much of anyone since… since, it happened. I’ve got plenty. Why don’t you stay and have lunch? Maybe I can talk some sense into you kids.”

  At that, he rose from his seat and headed to his kitchen. We al looked at each other and everyone just shrugged. He seemed nice enough, now that we got things cleared up, and it would be crazy to turn down food.

  Carter stayed on the couch with his arms crossed over his chest and Taya stayed with him making comments about the living room. She was particularly interested in a photo of a kid at a circus and went into a long discussion about how much she liked going to the circus, and how she hoped she would get to go to one again someday and maybe Carter could take her.

  It was obvious none of this was sinking in, but he was nodding his head like he was listening so she just kept chattering away. I envied her ability to be so cheerful, but I guessed that was her defense mechanism. She had chosen to overlook the way things were and pretend everything was ok. I couldn’t blame her; she had been through some pretty rough things. Watching your mother get eaten by giant demon birds has to screw up a person’s head. I hadn’t had to witness my father’s passing, but the loss of him would haunt me every day the rest of my life.

  “You kids like Spaghetti O’s?” Charlie asked holding up a giant can of it. We spent the next hour sitting around Charlie’s dining table talking and eating.

  “So you came out and just shot al the little buggers?” Charlie asked Taya. �
�That’s pretty impressive for such a twig of a girl.”

  “I’m not a twig!” Taya said defiantly and we al laughed.

  “Charlie, you said you had a radio, does it work?” I asked. I was dying to check and see if the transmissions were back on.

  “Sure, but you’re not gonna hear nothing, but static.”

  “I’d like to try any way if that’s ok with you?” He considered it for a moment and nodded.

  “Sure kid.” Charlie slowly stood up with a grunt and walked to a back room as I folowed. I looked back and saw Carter whispering something into Max’s ear and Max shook his head solemly.

  I could tel Carter didn’t much like Charlie, but that was only because he didn’t agree with him. Carter was stubborn like that. He didn’t want to be wrong and he didn’t want anyone to question him. No matter how much we al warmed up to Charlie, I could tel it only irritated Carter further.

  It was nice to have the escape though. To sit around a table and talk and laugh, like things were normal. I silently prayed that once we made it to New Mexico we could spend al our evenings like this. Just hanging out, chatting and having a good meal together.

  Charlie slid into a squeaky desk chair and pushed open the lid of an antique wooden rol top desk. It was a beautiful large mahogany desk, with intricate carvings decorating the sides and trim of the piece.

  “That’s a very pretty desk,” I commented.

  “It was my wife’s.” He touched the wood lovingly. “I always hated it. The damn thing weights a ton. She always insisted that we take it with us wherever we moved, but I always wanted to sel it. Now, I don’t know if I could ever part with it.” Charlie turned the knob on an old radio and turned it toward me.

  “There you go kid.” He rose from his seat and offered it to me.

  I sat down gingerly and started to play with the dials trying every station I could. I faintly remember hearing him say, good luck as he left the room.

  After unsuccessfuly finding anything on the radio I closed the desk and left the room. Max and Taya were seated back in the living room with Charlie, but Carter was no where in sight.

  “Where’s Carter?”

  “He’s headed back for the Bronco.”

  “You let him go alone?” I couldn’t believe how careless the two of them were being.

  “He wanted to,” Taya added sounding hurt.

  “He was a little upset, with this one here.” Charlie said pointing to Taya. “She asked if I wanted to come with you.”

  “Oh,” I added a little surprised. “So what did you say?”

  Charlie chuckled and said, “Don’t look so shocked kid. I thought about it for a moment, but I’m not leaving. This is my house, has been for over thirty years.”

  “I think he’s crazy for staying.” Max added sitting up from the couch and puling a bag onto his shoulder.

  “What’s that?” I asked pointing to the bag.

  “Oh I just gave you kids a few things I thought you could use,” Charlie said and winked at us as we walked to the front door.

  “Thanks for everything.” Taya hugged Charlie quickly and walked briskly out of the house.

  I wasn’t going to hug him, but I was grateful for al he had done for us. He noticed my hesitation and extended his hand. “You kids be careful, ok? If you get there, and get that transmission going again, maybe I’l come see ya.”

  I doubted that he would but I shook his hand and we said our thank yous before exiting.

  “So Carter realy got that pissed?” I asked as we made our way to the gas cans. One of them was missing so I figured Carter had grabbed it on his way out. Max picked the remaining can up and we heading back toward the Bronco.

  Taya took the lead, looking eager to either get back to Carter or the Bronco, I couldn’t tel which.

  “He’s not mad at you, ya know?” Max told Taya. “He just thought that guy was going to try to talk us out of going. Tel us to go back home. He got realy paranoid, thinking we were going to turn against him.”

  I started to laugh at that. “Turn against him? We’re family. He can be such a stubborn ass sometimes.” Taya shot me a nasty glare and I raised my hands up in surrender, giggling al the while. Max started to laugh too which made her even madder.

  “What’s got her panties in a bunch?” Max asked.

  “I think she has a little crush on Carter.”

  “I do not!”

  We laughed some more, “Geez, ok. Keep it down, you don’t have to yel.” I didn’t want to have her be too upset with us so I tried my best to force my smile away.

  “If you two can be together, why can’t Carter and I?” she asked. She stopped and turned to face us with her hands on her boney hips.

  “Taya, were not…” I looked to Max and he was avoiding my eyes, squinting into the distance at the Bronco that was far ahead. I knew he was dying to hear how I answered this accusation. His lips were quivering and I could tel he was desperately trying not to smile.

  “Don’t try to lie Abby. I saw you two, not that I care that you were sucking face, but don’t try to deny it. I see how you look at each other.” I blushed at that and quickly tried to hide it by taking a smal step away from Max. I wasn’t ashamed about how I felt for him, but it was so new. The kiss we shared was something I never thought would happen and I hadn’t figured out what Max and I were now that it had.

  “That’s different Taya. Carter is…” I didn’t want to tel her that I didn’t think he was interested in her cause I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I could see in her eyes how much she was holding back. I was a bit taken aback by how much I realized she liked him.

  “He’s just a bit older than you, that’s al we’re trying to say.” Max added.

  “Oh. Wel, don’t worry about that. I’ve dated lots of guys older than me. My last boyfriend was seventeen.”

  “We just don’t want you to get hurt.” I added trying to sound supportive and it worked.

  Taya softened and headed toward the Bronco again, almost with a skip in her step.

  “Poor Carter.” Max chuckled. “He has no clue what he is in for.”

  Max and I continued the short walk to the Bronco in silence, just enjoying each others company. I had inched my way closer to Max’s side as we walked and I could tel we were probably closer than necessary by the look on Carter’s face when we made it to the Bronco. The more my feelings for Max grew and the more I dreamt that my chance of being with him was possible, I started to care less and less if my brother knew about us.

  Carter quickly grabbed the gas can out of Max’s hand and filed up the Bronco while the rest of us crawled in. Taya insisted on sitting shotgun, so Max and I gladly sat in the back. As we made our way into Utah the terrain slowly began to change.

  “So what did he give you?” I asked Max randomly, trying to break the awkward silence.

  “Who, Charlie?” Carter groaned as he heard the name. “He gave us food mostly, some soaps, oh, and he wanted you to have this.” Max dug into a side pocket and puled out a smal radio. It was not much bigger than my hand and the antennae was broken, but it brought a big smile to my face. “He said that he hopes we find what we are looking for, and doesn’t want us to give up.”

  “Wow. That’s nice of him.” I sounded more appreciative that I should have, but that was probably the most thoughtful gift I had received in ages.

  “That guy is ful of crap. We wil find what we are looking for and we are going to win this.” Carter held up his book. “We’ve got so much information. We’re going to give it to the military and it’s going to make a difference, just you wait and see.”

  “I believe you Carter,” I added. “No one is saying that they don’t. You don’t need to be so defensive.”

  “Me too. I never doubted you,” Taya added while squeezing his shoulder.

  I could tel that recent events had realy shaken Carter and he was starting to lose hope, but I wasn’t sure of what I could do to raise his sprits. The only thing that would truly mat
ter was getting to safety in New Mexico and we were stil a long ways away.

  As it got darker, our surroundings became more and more populated. I knew the gas we had gotten wouldn’t get us far and we would have to stop again soon.

  Carter realized this too and we puled into a gas station to try the pumps.

  Max went inside the store to turn on the pumps while we each tried a nozzle. Taya’s was working, so we puled the Bronco to pump number eight and were able to almost fil it up.

  With that smal victory we al made our way into the convenience store, scouring the aisles for any hidden treasures. I noticed Max puled a door closed near the back of the store and I smiled at him. That was good thinking on his part. The last thing we needed was a demon to come barreling out of a back room again. I realized that I had become less vigilant of my surroundings since I was hurt, and silently vowed I would be more observant.

  In the end we had al carried what we found back to the Bronco and pigged out.

  “Wow, I never knew Funyons were so good,” Taya said with a mouthful.

  “Yeah, I can’t believe you never had any before. They are the best,” Carter added. Food seemed to have lightened his mood.

  “Where do you think we should stay for the night?” I asked taking an over eager bite out of a power bar. I normaly would stick my tongue out at the thought of having to eat one, but I quickly realized that they weren’t so bad. The texture was a little off, but I liked it anyway.

  “Maybe we can find a nice house to stay in?” Taya asked excitedly.

  “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. What do you two think?”

  “Sounds good,” Max said inaudibly. His mouth was packed ful of stale Pringles. We passed around a two liter bottle of Mountain Dew that we found and al took a swig. It was flat and a good while past the expiration date, but after a few test sips we deemed it edible.