Linda Andrews - Extinction Level Event

“Not really.” Leaving the wagon by the fence, Manny walked to the curb. At the corner, the Marines and their tanks still stood guard. The haze prevented him from seeing clearly, but he caught the flicker of light. Of course, they could see him with their binoculars. He resisted the urge to shrink back, out of range of their weapons. Ridiculous! He had a legitimate reason for waiting at the corner. “That’s why we had to leave our home. We were the next house on their list.”

Rini brushed at the tear on her cheek.

Nice going, Manny. Make your last friend in the world feel bad. “I had planned to leave and was going to scout out a new, safer place.” He half-lied. “The Aspero’s attack provided the perfect cover.”

“Animals!” Henry spat before wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. “I hope the Marines gave them an ass full of lead.”

Connie thumped her cane against the fence. “Mind your language, Henry. There are children present.”

Henry hunkered low in his chair. “Manny’s a man, Connie. And Irina’s not too far from adulthood. Besides, the Redaction didn’t leave any children behind—just weary souls in young skin.”

“Don’t you listen to him.” Connie patted Irina’s knee. “We’ll have the little ones laughing in no time. With the whole neighborhood to shop in, we should find enough toys for it to seem like Christmas all over again.”

Christmas? Manny’s chest seemed to collapse. The niños hadn’t had a Christmas. Momi and Popi had died the day before and his oldest sister on New Year’s. He rubbed his eyes, and then pinched his arm. Pain zipped to his brain. Yeah, well that didn’t prove that he wouldn’t wake up in his old house with nothing to feed the niños and the Aspero pounding at the door.

“And school.” Henry bumped against the curb. “Mildred can teach them their numbers and letters. No point in them falling behind. That little squirt, Jose, is real bright.”

Irina smiled before wincing and setting her hand against her cheek. “He’s devious too. Just try to get him to eat something he doesn’t like, and you’ll see the creative ways he disposes of the offending food.”

Manny nodded. He’d forgotten how clever his little brother could be. Or that food hadn’t always been an obsession.

Henry laughed—a booming sound that came from his massive chest. “I know all the tricks. Growing up, my parents had this table with hollow metal tubes holding up the Formica top. I used to pop off the covering and shove my peas inside the legs. It took my mom months to figure out where that smell came from.” Shaking his head, he rolled into the street. “Boy, did I get a whooping.”

Connie chuckled before cocking her head to the side. She patted Irina’s knee before clutching her cane with both hands. Rocking back and forth, she tried to stand. “Ahh, here they come. Three trucks.” Her grin faded as she fell back to the ground. “One’s a Refer.”

Refer—as in dead body carrying refrigerated truck? Manny stepped off the curb. The Marine at the corner, waved his arm and three trucks turned onto their street. The middle one was indeed a Refer. Jesus Christ. He’d forgotten all about the body the man had tossed over the balcony. Had Connie or Henry found it? Did they think he’d killed her? Were they being so nice to him before turning him in to the soldiers? His feet angled to leave, over the fence, anywhere but here.

“Probably for the Aspero’s remains.” Scrambling to her feet, Irina cupped the other woman’s elbow and helped her stand. She caught sight of Manny and arched an eyebrow.

He shook his head. The less Rini knew the better. Shaking his hands, he returned to the wagon. He hadn’t done anything wrong. That had to count for something.

“Makes sense.” Henry rolled onto the curb before spinning about. “Of course, if it was up to me, I’d let the coyotes eat their remains. Then we’d know they’d been good for something.”

Brakes screeched as the trucks rolled to a stop before them. Sandwiched between the supply wagons, the Refer hummed. With their guns in their hands, the soldiers jumped from the truck. Their muzzles aimed everywhere and nowhere as they set up the perimeter.

Manny’s skin itched. He’d seen this before, every week for five and a half months. Yet today, today he knew about a dead body that hadn’t died from the Redaction. He tightened his grip on the wagon.

Henry rolled his chair over to where another soldier set up a table. “Good afternoon. You wearing those masks to protect you from the Ash Pneumonia I heard about on the news?”

The soldier nodded. “Yes, sir. Although it’s required for us, we’re recommending the young, old and immunocompromised wear one if they’re going to be outside.”

“What the infirm don’t matter anymore?” Henry smiled as he plunked a handful of ration books on the table.

The soldier behind the table sifted through the cards. “The infirm are too ornery to do anything they don’t want to do.”

“Damn right.” Henry waved Manny over.

He lurched forward before stumbling over his feet. The soldiers! They were the same ones that delivered the rations to his neighborhood. His tongue knotted, refusing to toss out a warning. After a few steps, he found his footing and glanced at Rini. Pleading with her to warn Connie and Henry not to go forward with their story.

Her eyes widened then traveled to the refrigerated truck and remained locked there.

The passenger door on the Refer opened and a soldier hopped to the ground. Arrows and bars marked his upper arm. Manny’s heart slammed to a stop. Not him.

“Ma’am. Sir.” His gaze skimmed Irina. His jaw clenched as his attention stuck to Manny. “Kids.”

“I—” The rest of the sentence strangled in Manny’s tight throat.

Angling his chair so the soldiers couldn’t see his face, Henry held his index finger to his lips.

Manny opened his mouth but Henry shook his head.

“Ahh, Sergeant Major Dawson.” Connie inched forward, her cane thumping the ground. Her ankle twisted on a rock and she dipped. “These are my grandchildren. They arrived just yesterday from California.”

Manny frowned as she stumbled. Dropping the wagon handle, he rushed to her aid but she was already on her feet and moving awkwardly forward again. An act. The certainty settled in his gut. But why was the old woman acting as if this was her first day with the cane?

The sergeant major rocked back on his heels. His eyes crinkled above his face mask. “Is that a fact?”

“Are you calling me a liar?” Connie thumped the curb with the cane. “Because I know for a fact, that Manny has my late husband’s nose and Irina his eyes.”

The soldier behind the table coughed into his sleeve.

The sergeant major shook his head. “Brother and sister are they?”

“Cousins, Sergeant Major.” Connie growled. “Cousins.”

Manny cleared his throat. Time to fess up. He wouldn’t get the others in trouble, not after they’d taken care of the niños and Irina. “Connie. Henry. The sergeant major knows us from the old neighborhood.”

“Oh.” Connie straightened then shook in cane in the soldiers’ direction. “Well. Shame on you Sergeant Major for allowing me to waste a perfectly good lie.”

“My apologies, ma’am.” The soldier tipped his hat. “Perhaps you’ll get a chance to use it another day.”

Connie grinned. “Maybe, I will at that.”

“Medic!” The sergeant major’s shout seemed to rattle the skeleton of the supply truck.

A soldier with a pack slung over his shoulder hustled from the other side of the truck. “Sergeant Major.”

“See to the girl’s injuries. You.” The sergeant major pointed at Manny. “Front and center.”