The Nightworld - Jack Blaine [35]
I’ve never seen that look on her face before. She looks like nobody better mess with her, like she could make you regret it if you did. It’s kind of sexy.
She turns and holds the door open, and I don’t have to be asked twice.
The place looks nothing like it did the night of Lara’s party. The wall of windows is covered with blankets and plastic. The largest couch is covered with a tangle of sheets, and the fireplace’s glass cover is open, the gas flame blazing. There are only a couple of lights on, dim lamps that cast a warm glow on the room but don’t penetrate the blankets on the windows. On the chair closest to the fireplace, a girl is huddled under a blanket. She has the darkest circles under her eyes that I have ever seen.
“Kath.” Lara speaks to the girl gently, as though she’s talking to a spooked horse. “This is Nick. Remember? I told you about him.”
Kath focuses on me slowly and smiles. “The boy from the party,” she whispers.
Lara nods, blushing a little. “That’s right, Kath.”
Tank runs all around the place, sniffing. He finally settles on one of the couches and rests his head on his paws. I can tell he’s beat, but he keeps his eyes open, watching to see that everything is safe. I see Kath watching him.
“That’s Tank. He won’t hurt you.”
“Damn right he won’t, or I’ll drop him.” Zeke is locking the door. Once he’s got all the deadbolts done, he pushes a credenza in front of it. “I locked up the stairwell door again too, in case anybody cares. That cloth wadding is really helping to hold the golf club in the handles better.”
“That’s great, Zeke. That was a good idea you had.” Lara reaches out for me, and I can’t believe she is standing in front of me, alive. I take her hand, and she leads me toward the balcony. “I’m going to show Nick around. Can you guys finish the last of the lunch prep?”
Zeke just grunts, but Kath smiles that slow smile and hops up. “Sure. Come on, Zeke.” She tries to take his hand, but he just brushes past her and stalks into the kitchen. Kath’s smile disappears, but she follows him. I wonder if they’re a couple.
Lara parts the plastic sheet hanging in front of the sliding glass door and opens the door, and we go out on the balcony. It doesn’t feel like the night of the party, that’s for sure. The air is frigid. I wonder if it’s just going to keep getting colder and colder with no sun.
“What’s up with Bozo in there?”
“Zeke?” She shrugs. “He’s been through a lot. We all have.” She falls silent and stares out at the city.
I look too. “Not much like the last time we were here, is it?” The plumes of smoke Morton and I saw from the freeway are bigger and blacker up close, inky stains against the murky sky. Half the buildings are dark, and weirdest of all, there is very little traffic noise. I hear distant yelling, the sound of some sort of metal crashing against metal, a gunshot. But no city buses, no cabs. No traffic.
“It’s really scary out there, Nick. People are killing each other for scraps of food or clothing. They killed my brother, Brian.” Her voice is soft, but I can hear the pain in it.
I’m stunned. I don’t even know what to say to her, so I just take her hand and hold it tight. She looks up at me, her lip trembling, and I think she’s going to burst into tears, but she grits her teeth and pulls it together. Something hard passes over her face, and she turns back to the cityscape. “That’s how I met Zeke and Kath. Zeke saved my life that night.” She takes a deep breath, and I can tell she’s not seeing the city that’s laid out before her. She’s seeing something else, something horrible. “We were trying to get out. Brian thought it would be safer at our country house, and since Mom and Dad were still—are still—in Europe, we figured there was no reason to stay here. We’d packed what we could and we were getting into Brian’s car in the garage. They came out of nowhere. We heard them running before we saw them . . . you know how underground garages always echo? I don’t think I’ll ever get that sound of them running toward us out of my head.
“There