Matt de la Peña - The Living

Shy looked up at the top floor of the hotel, where the penthouse was. “I grabbed the duffel with the medicine off their boat. I don’t even know why. Anyway, when I woke up on Shoe’s boat this morning, he was sticking me with one of those syringes.”

“Shy,” Carmen said, grabbing his forearm, “that’s really good. Everyone who got the shot is still healthy.”

“He told me they were vitamins,” Shy said. “But obviously that was a bunch of bs. What kind of sickness is it, anyway?”

Carmen shook her head. “Some tropical thing, I guess. Brought on by the flooding. And we were all calling the shots vitamins.” She let go of his arm. “All I know is the illness must be bad ’cause nobody’s recovered enough to come down from the penthouse yet.”

They were both quiet for a few seconds. Shy stood and scooped up his dirty clothes.

Carmen cleared her throat, said: “There’s something else, Shy. I wanted to make sure you heard this from me first.”

Shy looked at her, preparing himself for more bad news.

“Rodney’s up there. He’s one of the sick people.”

It was like a shot to the midsection. Shy looked up toward the top floor again. His legs felt even weaker all of a sudden, like any second he might collapse like Addie had. But he wouldn’t let himself. “He’ll get better, though, right?”

“That’s what Christian says. And the research people promised to take everyone back to California, no matter how sick they are.”

“We can’t go see him?” Shy asked.

She shook her head. “At least, we’re not supposed to.”

As they walked back into the hotel, they were both quiet. Shy could tell Carmen was thinking about the same thing he was. Rodney. It killed him that the guy had made it all the way to the island only to get sick. He vowed to make sure he took care of his roommate on the voyage back home.

Carmen led Shy right past Addie’s room and the room Christian told him to take, toward the stairs. “I think I’m supposed to be in room one eighteen,” he said.

“Says who?” Carmen said.

“Christian.”

She shook her head. “You can take any room you want. Come on.”

She led him to an open room on the third floor, across the hall from hers, and stood by the door as he went inside. He sat on the end of the king-sized bed. It was a super nice hotel room. Art on all the walls, a big window overlooking the ocean. Clean-looking bedding and pillows. But Shy didn’t care about all that. He was still thinking about what he’d just learned.

When he’d seen the island from Shoeshine’s motorboat, he had assumed the worst was over. And maybe it was. But things were still pretty messed up. California had been rocked by an earthquake. And he had no idea about his family. And now he’d found out a bunch of people, including his boy Rodney, were sick.

“Get some rest,” Carmen said. “I’ll come get you before we meet for lunch.”

Shy looked at her hovering near the door. “Thanks for telling me about Rod,” he said. “Guess I shouldn’t even ask about Kevin and Marcus.”

“Marcus is here,” she said. “The people on the second boat fished him out of the ocean.”

“So he’s not sick?”

Carmen shook her head. “He’s been holed up in his room the past couple days trying to fix some portable radio. He found it at the bottom of a huge puddle, though, so I have my doubts.”

“And Kevin?”

Carmen shook her head, looking at Shy. “He wasn’t on any of the boats.”

Shy nodded.

Not only did he feel exhausted, he felt empty. Just a few days ago they were all hanging out together on the ship for Rodney’s birthday. Now Rodney was sick. And Kevin, the strongest and smartest of all of them, was missing. Drowned, probably. Or mauled by a shark. It proved to Shy that the most important part of surviving was dumb luck.

Carmen stared blankly at the floor a while. “Look,” she finally said. “A lot of bad things went down. We both saw the footage of what the earthquakes did.” She shook her head. “I can’t even sleep really ’cause all I do is think about my family. And Brett. And whether or not they’re still alive.”

Shy nodded.

“But me and you are still alive,” Carmen said. “And we’re going home. That’s what we need to focus on, you know?”

“You’re right,” Shy told her.

“Now get some rest. I’ll come wake you up in a few hours.” She picked up one of his room keys and slipped it into her pocket.

“Thanks, Carm.”

She smiled. “You’re family, too, Shy. Remember that.” She turned to leave but then stopped herself and looked back from the door. “Before I go, you know the rules. Give me one thing I don’t already know.”

Shy looked out at the ocean, thinking. Carmen had just told him the truth about Rodney and Kevin. He wanted to tell something truthful, too. “You know that girl Addie?” he said, sitting down on the bed. “The one I was out there with?”

Carmen nodded.

“She’s actually not that bad. I probably never would’ve made it back without her.”

Carmen stared at him for a few long seconds, like she was trying to figure out what he meant. Then an understanding came over her face and she said: “I’m happy you had someone.” She smiled at Shy and stepped out of his room, slowly pulling the door closed behind her.

Shy lay back on his pillow and stared up at the ceiling. He thought about everything he and Carmen had just talked about, and he thought about Kevin and Rodney. He was definitely grateful to be where he was. Alive. Back on land. About to return to California on the research ship. But at the same time he felt guilty, too.

Why should he live and Kevin die?

What made him any more worthy?

Nothing.

He closed his eyes, remembering Kevin following him to the Lido Deck on the first night of the voyage. Warning Shy about the guy who’d been asking about him. Saying with his eyes that he had Shy’s back.

Kevin was a good guy. He was probably a better guy than just about anyone else Shy had ever known, including himself.

Shy felt like he’d just fallen asleep when he opened his eyes and found Carmen shaking him awake. “Sorry I can’t let you rest longer,” she said. “But we need to find out about this departure.”

Shy sat up. “How long was I out?”

“It’s one already. So almost three hours.”

“For real?” Shy wiped the sleep from his eyes and got to his feet. He followed Carmen out of his room, saying: “I probably could’ve slept for three days. ”

Carmen stopped in the middle of the hall. “So which room is hers?”

“Who?”

“Blondie,” Carmen said. “Ol’ girl you were stranded with.”

Shy gave her a confused look. “What are you talking about?”

“Just gimme the room number, Shy. I decided me and her are gonna be friends.”

Shy was still too asleep to know what he thought about this. He reluctantly gave her the room number and followed her down some stairs and through a hall. Before he fully comprehended what was happening, they were standing together outside Addie’s room.

“Go ’head,” Carmen told him. “Knock.”

Shy did.

As they waited for Addie to answer he got a strange nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. Carmen and Addie, together? It was too weird, like worlds colliding.

The door opened slowly, and there she was. Blond hair tangled in her face. But she looked alert, like she’d been up for a while. She smiled at Shy, then turned to Carmen and said: “Oh. Hi.”

“Addie, meet Carmen,” Shy said, trying to act like it was no big deal. “Carmen, Addie.”

He watched them smile at each other and shake hands like two businesspeople. Then it got all quiet and awkward.