Cruel World(34)

There was a long pause and then a small voice came from behind the woman.

“I’m Ty.”

“Tyrus! We’re leaving. Don’t come any closer.”

“I’m telling the truth. I’m immune, or whatever passes for immune I guess. My father had it first and then my—” he almost said mother, but stopped himself and continued “—teacher got it. They both died. Our cook had it too, but he…”

Quinn frowned, the images of what Graham had become playing across his mind. How the cold, pale flesh had felt beneath his fingers. “He…”

“He turned into one of them, didn’t he?”

The woman was standing inside the doorway, the gun at her side again. A little outline in the hallway became a boy as he stepped forward. He was around five years old with tousled, brown hair and glazed eyes the same color of his mother’s that stared past Quinn, through him.

“He turned into a stilt,” the woman said.

“A stilt?”

“Because how tall they are.”

“You mean you’ve seen one too?”

The woman huffed a derisive laugh.

“One? Try dozens.”

Quinn’s mouth worked but nothing came out for a moment.

“Dozens? There’s more of them?”

“Are you slow too? Part of your…” she gestured at his face. “…disorder?”

“What? No, I’m just—I thought Graham was the only one.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but no. There’s a lot of them. Way more than immunes.”

Quinn moved to the sofa and sat, the aches in his legs and ankle muted by what the woman had told him. Ty shuffled further into the room, one hand on his mother’s belt, not looking around, only staring in the general direction of the fire.

“You’re really alone?” the woman asked.

“Yes. There was two others but they left.”

“Were they two men?”

“No, a woman and a man. They were our housekeeper and groundskeeper. Why?”

“Because two maniacs in a truck nearly killed us yesterday. They started following us outside of Pearlton, just hovering a half-mile back, never getting closer. Then they came up fast and tailgated us for about ten miles, both of them waving for us to pull over. I would’ve rather chewed glass, so we kept going until they forced us off the road about a mile from here. I lost control in the ditch and hit a huge transformer. That’s the last thing I remember before waking up this afternoon. When I did, all our supplies were gone. Good thing the boomer was under the seat or it would be gone too.” She waved the handgun once and then slid its bulk beneath her belt.

“They were here too,” Quinn said. “They came in and took all of my food and water.”

“Why didn’t you shoot the bastards?”

“I guess I was in shock. I didn’t know what they wanted when they showed up, so I hid.”

The woman’s lip rose a little on one side in a sneer. “They better hope they never run into me again. Ty lost consciousness too, but he woke up before me and had to sit there wondering if I was dead until I came to.”

Her jaw clenched, and the muscle in her cheek bulged as she looked away at the fire. Ty shivered once beside her.

“Come sit down by the fire,” Quinn said, rising and motioning toward the couch. “I’m guessing you’re both cold and tired.”

“Listen, we don’t need anything from you. We might stay the night just because it’s not safe in the dark anymore. Looks like you’ve got a pretty good perimeter set up around your property, but it doesn’t really matter if a stilt wants to come in.” She looked out the window and then glanced at him again. Their gazes held for a moment before she looked back at the fire. “My name’s Alice.”

Ty inched forward, one hand still attached to his mother’s waist while the other groped at the open space before him. Suddenly the glazed look in his eyes made sense.

“Here,” Quinn said, stepping out of the way. “The couch is to your left.”

Alice guided her son to the plush sofa and helped him onto the cushion. The little boy’s face remained stoic for a beat and then broke into a shining smile.

“This is really soft,” Ty said, looking about the room with his sightless eyes. He shivered again, holding his hands out in the direction of the fire. Quinn moved to get the blanket from the back of the couch, but Alice headed him off, covering her son with it before he could help.