Resident Evil_ Extinction - Keith R. A. DeCandido [68]
L.J. and Carlos was the only ones left. Alice and Jill had disappeared, and everyone else was dead.
Except these last thirty. And, soon, L.J.
Fuck.
Somebody banged on the window, scaring the living shit out of L.J. He covered up the bandage fast as he could and looked up to see Otto’s dome staring at his ass.
A goofy-ass grin on his face, Otto asked, “How’s it going?”
“What?”
“The date.” L.J. rolled his eyes. “Get lost, dog! Does everyone have to know my business? Can’t a man get some privacy?”
“That was a joke, right? There’s thirty of us, L.J. Privacy left the building a few months ago.”
“Yeah, well, that just means a nigger’s gotta take it where he can, you feel me? Now move your white ass.”
“So, I guess I can’t watch?”
“Don’t you got young’uns to take care of?”
“Chase is keeping an eye on ’em.”
“Yeah, another blow for modern youth. Will you move your ass?”
Otto chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. Have fun—and don’t catch any diseases!”
As Otto left, L.J. felt his face fall. He hadn’t even thought of that. Betty was the finest booty call he’d had in a long time—but what if you could transmit the T-virus through fucking? That would suck something serious.
Betty came in then, and L.J. forgot all about viruses and diseases and thought about that smile. Nobody’d had any kind of shower any time recently, and L.J. had finally started getting used to it, so nobody’s smell didn’t bother him none, but it was hard to find someone who smelled good.
But Betty? She smelled fine.
The paramedic held two cans of food. “Refried beans,” she said, holding one up, then the other. “Fruit salad.”
“My favorite,” L.J. said with a grin.
She fixed him with a look. “Aren’t we forgetting something?”
L.J. stared at her for a second. Then he remembered.
Reaching down into the well between the two front seats, he pulled out what was left of a candle. Wasn’t like the old days, when all he needed to do was flash some cash, and bitches’d be fallin’ all over his black ass. Nah, times like these called for some good old-fashioned romance. Too bad he didn’t have no more Barry White CDs left.
They started eating. The refried beans tasted like they’d been refried a few dozen times, and Betty winced when she ate the fruit salad, but they both were determined to enjoy it. Beat the shit outta nothing, and that was what they was looking at soon.
A desert storm started brewing. L.J. saw some sheet lightning in the background. “Fuck.”
“It’s actually kinda pretty,” Betty said, staring past him at the light show. “Long as it’s out there.”
“We’ll be safe in here.” L.J. hoped he sounded convincing.
Betty, unfortunately, didn’t look real convinced. “Things are falling apart out there.”
Trying to lighten things, L.J. said, “But we had some fun.”
“Fun?” Betty was staring at him like he was flippin’.
“You know what I did before this?”
Betty shook her head, which gave L.J. time to come up with his latest previous vocation.
He looked down and saw the fine-looking leather boots Betty was wearing. They was all covered in dirt and sand, but they still looked good.
“Wal-Mart,” he said. “Ladies shoes.”
“Ladies shoes.” Betty sounded like she didn’t believe it—which made sense, since it wasn’t no more true than anything else L.J. had said to folks. But he didn’t think saying, “street hustler” was gonna make this any kind of real booty call. Also made it hard to take him seriously as a savior of humanity and shit.
He nodded. “Ladies shoes. So you see, this—” He waved his hand around. “It’s not so bad.”
Betty burst out laughing. “You are crazy, L.J.”
“So I been told.”
“Hey, what’s it stand for?”
“What?”
“L.J.”
He smiled. “Lloyd Jefferson. My momma named me after both my grandfathers. Never knew ’em—they was dead ’fore I was born—but Momma really loved both of ’em.”
L.J. shook his head. He hadn’t thought about Momma in years. He’d never had the chance to make peace with her after the shit with the pyramid scheme. Now she was dead—least, that was what he figured, since she lived in Raccoon, and L.J. was pretty sure he was close personal friends with everyone