Chapter 14: Nikki

 

Cynthia handed me another stack of bowls, and I placed them on the neatly organized shelf. Someone had gone through a lot of effort to make this place visually appealing and highly functional. Someone short, because everything was on the bottom shelves. I took note and avoided putting anything on the top level, just in case.

Evie had left Cynthia and I to finish cleaning up. She’d gone with her mate, Tarv’k, in search of a way to house the new chicks. The wire cages were much too small for long-term use, the chicks barely had room to move around, and the greenhouse where she planned on keeping them wasn’t finished yet. Even there, they needed an enclosure.

I was still in awe that everyone had washed and dried their bowl before leaving. Back with the other group, everyone had their own dishes and cutlery they’d kept in their bag. If we’d had enough clean water to wash communal bowls, the men would’ve just piled it all in the bin used as a sink and left the cleaning for the women.

Cynthia showed me a giant harvest of apples that needed processing. “You don’t happen to know how to can things do you? Or make apple sauce?”

“Nope. My nana used to make apple sauce, but all I did back then was help her cut apples.” Now I wished I’d paid better attention. It hadn’t seemed like a useful skill at the time.

“I guess YouTube it is.”

Right. They had access to the internet. I had access to the internet. There were so many things I wanted to look up.

“What do we do with the dirty water?” I asked. Nothing went to waste in the bugpocalypse, and this group was well-run and probably wasted nothing either.

“We use it to water the plants. That’s why we try to use as little detergent as possible.”

I hadn’t even needed any since I washed my bowl right away. It was a good system.

“Koriv’n told me about the rooftop garden. I can’t wait to see it.”

“Glad to finally meet another zombie movie aficionado,” said the voice that had sounded familiar before. “I’m surprised how few of us made it out alive.”

I turned to see who spoke. A couple stood in front of me. The man with tousled brown hair stuck out his hand.

I took it. “I’m Nikki. Dumb question, but do I know you? Your voice sounds familiar, but I can’t place it.”

“This is Jack from Stay Alive!” Meghan squealed excitedly behind the couple.

Behind her stood Terrance, the man who’d fought alongside Koriv’n during the swarms.

The Jack from Stay Alive? I remembered listening to that show through fall and winter. It was the only semblance of schedule I had. Any survivor in the broadcast area with access to a radio listened to Jack’s survival show. There wasn’t much else on the air unless you wanted to listen to two tone-deaf idiots belt out show tunes in their bunker.

My mental image of Jack was off by a good mile. If I’d had to guess, I would’ve pinned Terrance, with his no-nonsense shaved head, swarthy complexion, and rugged charm, as Jack. The real Jack looked barely out of college, with his mop of brown hair left to grow out a bit. A few strands fell forward to frame his face, giving him a boyish look, but his green eyes looked like he’d seen some shit. Hadn’t we all?

“Wow! That’s so cool. They don’t let us listen to you anymore because the leader says you’ve been ‘turned by the hunters,’ whatever that crap means, but I used to listen to you every day. I was never allowed out to forage, but I was hoping if I did, I’d learned enough from you not to die on my first trip.” I turned to the waif-like woman hanging off Jack’s arm.

She introduced herself as Stacey.

“Are you guys part of the compound or from New Franklin?” I looked at the couple as well as Terrance, who stood behind them.

“I was from New Franklin,” Stacey said. “But I’m staying here with Jack now.”

“We don’t call it New Franklin anymore. Not after we lost so many early this year, it doesn’t seem right,” said Terrance.

He hooked his hand under one side of the giant bin of gray water, Jack took the other side, and they lifted the heavy container and headed toward the strange stairs. Cynthia tossed me a plastic watering can, and we followed the two men up the stairs.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said to Terrance as we headed up to the roof. “The swarms caught us by surprise too. We’d thought those were over last year. We didn’t know they swarmed every year.” I squeezed ahead to open the door to the roof for them.

“Neither did we. We were ready to start rebuilding. We set up camp in the big high school, the one with the large shiny windows. We had no idea the hunters had been clearing the bugs out for us all winter. When those centicreeps showed up, with their ability to climb walls and crack windows, it was over.”

I shuddered at the mention of the centicreeps. I couldn’t believe Koriv’n had taken one down all by himself.

“I wanted to travel across town to get to New Franklin when I first heard about it. It seemed a better idea than staying with a bunch of thugs. But my ex-husband won the argument.”

“Maybe it’s best you found us now instead. Our old leaders were corrupt. Mama Sal and Richard basically sold the women off to some of the less scrupulous men in the name of rebuilding civilization. They’re gone now. We kicked them and anyone in on the arrangement to the curb.”

“And good riddance!” exclaimed Stacey.

So even New Franklin hadn’t been fully safe. I wasn’t surprised. Even now, this compound seemed too good to be true, and I knew what they said about things like that. I couldn’t sense any malice from the people in the compound, but I was waiting for something bad to happen. Pre-bug Nikki would have rolled her eyes at my suspicious nature, even after all those zombie films.

Terrance continued the story. “After that first attack, a few of us insisted on moving into the smaller elementary school across the street. It has barred windows and is more defensible. Not everyone agreed, and those who stayed in the old location were lost to the next swarm.”

“Oh, shit. That’s horrible. I see why you’d not want to continue using the name. What do you call yourself now?”

He shrugged. “Survivors.”

I nodded. They were survivors; we all were. “I like it.”

Meghan spoke up. “I’m joining them when they go back. They have a few expecting women, which means they’ll have to deal with babies and kids. I love kids. I was a kindergarten teacher in the before time. Come with me.”

I hesitated. I’d chosen the big mauve alien because staying with that group of human monsters was a nightmare. At the time, it had seemed like the lesser of two evils. I’d hoped the alien would treat me better, and he had.

Things were different now. Now I wanted to stay with Koriv’n; I wanted to see how things could be between us. Koriv’n was looking for companionship, and so was I. Despite being surrounded by people for the past year, I had never felt so alone. I wasn’t ready for a long-term commitment or anything, but I was ready to not feel lonely anymore.

“I’m not sure yet. I just got here. I still need to meet everybody.”

“We’re actually looking to move closer to the compound. No offense, but that group you came from are jerks. If they attack, we prefer to have backup close by. We have weapons, but no one’s trained to fight.”

“None taken. They’re total assholes. I’ll let you in on a secret, only a few of the guys there are ex-military. The rest are just thugs. Plus, they’re running out of ammo.”

I looked around the roof. The whole place was lit by light from two sleek alien shuttles with dark gray hulls. When we’d gotten into the compound, the sun was already setting, but no light came from the roof. I’d never seen a hunter’s shuttle before. Rumor was that the shuttles were usually cloaked. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t decide if the hulls were metallic or matte. It was an unusual texture I didn’t have a word for.

When I finally peeled my eyes off the strange-looking crafts, I noticed the metal tower surrounded by an array of solar panels. This must be how Jack managed the broadcasts. That explained why the signal was weak during cloudy days or storms, especially since we’d been all the way across town.

Scattered around the roof were giant bins filled with potting mix and plants. Some of the crops had clearly given their all already, but others were still producing.

They also had several large cisterns with collected rainwater. Hoses were connected to the cisterns leading across the roof and down into the building. That was close enough to running water for me.

The two men put the tub of water down, and we got to work filling our watering cans. Watering the plants on a roof lit by alien shuttles was a strange experience, yet it felt so domestic, so normal. This place kept bringing up that word in my head, which was weird because there was nothing normal about living with a bunch of alien warriors. There was nothing normal about the bugpocalypse.

I went back to the bin to fill my watering can again and shuddered when a strange feeling passed through me. I rubbed the goosebumps from my arm, peering around, but saw nothing.

“Did anyone else feel that?” I asked Cynthia as she returned.

“It’s probably a shuttle coming in for a landing. It’s cloaked, so you won’t see it. Some people have the ability to detect them better than others. Natalie could see them cloaked. I get a bit of an inkling when it’s right in front of me.”

Moments later, Evie and Tarv’k crossed the bridge from another roof onto ours. I hadn’t even noticed bridges connected multiple roofs until now.

Tarv’k carried a large water trough on one shoulder and a small bale of hay on another.

Evie waved us over. “Let’s go set up the chicks. The plants can wait until tomorrow morning.”

“Did someone say chicks?” The mixed-race lady with the squirrel was suddenly there as if summoned. Where had she come from? “I want to see them!”

Squirrel lady introduced herself as Connie, and we headed down into the building. There was an entire second floor I’d yet to explore. I’d need to ask about the bizarre stairs one day.

Evie frowned when she saw my bag and bicycle next to one of the couches.

Wow. I hadn’t left my bag out unprotected in a long time. I was getting soft. If the people at the compound meant any harm, my stuff would be gone. I made a note to be more careful. These people seemed nice, but I didn’t know if I could trust them yet.

“Are you staying in the main area? These chicks are a bit noisy. We’ll need to cover them so you can sleep.”

“No, it’s okay. I think I’m staying with Koriv’n on his shuttle.”

The ladies all perked up at once, and I realized I’d said something important. I was under the impression that many of the females stayed on the shuttles with a hunter. Was I wrong?

The only person who seemed disturbed by my declaration was Meghan, but she was a special case. Everyone else looked ecstatic, like I’d told them something super amazing. Weird.

“Duh! Of course you are,” Evie said, smacking her forehead lightly with her palm. “It’s probably the best place to sleep anyway. Climate control’s the bomb, and you’ve got to get him to show you the stars!”

The stars? “Okay.” I responded awkwardly, unsure if “the stars” was some euphemism for sex.

“Did you two experience the mating bond yet?” she asked.

Every eye looked expectantly at me.

I stared back, confused. “What’s that?’

They explained the mating bond and how once it was triggered, the hunter got stuck on you like glue. Physically, they could let go eventually, but emotionally, they were bonded for life. It seemed awfully permanent, and I was glad to say we hadn’t experienced it yet. I wasn’t ready for that; Koriv’n and I had just met. Besides, I had a horrible track record with men. It was best we kept things casual.

Evie whipped off the sheet covering the cage, and everyone’s attention turned to the feather nuggets inside.

“Oooh! They’re so cute!” Connie squeaked.

“Does anyone know how to raise them? Or are we YouTubing this too?”

I sent Cynthia an apologetic look. “Nana also had chickens. And no. I didn’t pay attention to that either.”

To think, Nana would have been right at home with this group. She had all the skills needed to keep everyone fed.

“It’s okay. That’s what the internet is for!”

I couldn’t help but grin.