Wesley and I turned to Alex, who looked visibly more relaxed. "How you feeling?" Wesley asked him.
"Okay. Hungry now. I haven"t had much to eat in the past few days."
"And you"re not hurt anywhere else?"
"No." Alex shifted position a little bit on the floor. "Just a little uncomfortable. This rope is kinda burning my wrists."
"What a dummy I am," Wesley said, dropping down to one knee. "Let me untie you. What was I thinking?"
I stood at sentry duty as Wesley untied the bonds from Alex"s wrists. "Again, I"m real sorry for everything. It"s just...well, you know, with everything that"s happened we have to be careful. Know what I mean?"
"Oh, yeah, I know what you mean." With his wrists free, Alex began rubbing them with his fingers. He visibly relaxed even more as Wesley untied the bonds that held his ankles together. With his wrists unbound I could now see that Alex"s arms were skinny; he had a sinewy muscular structure, like a young Iggy Pop.
When Alex was untied, Wesley helped him to a standing position. He was a short guy, about five foot four, and probably weighed all of 125 pounds. He shifted from foot to foot, shaking out the kinks in his limbs. "So have you seen other people?" I asked.
"No," Alex said casually. "When everything hit, I was at home. I worked as a driver for Mills Fleet and Farm and caught the news just before I left for work that day. I couldn"t believe what I was seeing. I just..." He looked from Wesley to myself. "...kinda stayed at home and tried calling my family to see if they were okay, but I couldn"t get through to anybody."
"And you didn"t go into town at all that day?" Wesley asked.
"No way. I was too scared."
"Did you catch any local news stations that day?" I asked.
"Yeah, KFBW News. That"s out of Billings. They were saying that whatever was happening...it wasn"t just confined to big cities, that rural communities were affected, too. That"s why I stayed inside."
"But you eventually did go to town, right?" Wesley asked.
"Oh yeah," Alex said. He was opening up now, relaxing around us. "It was...s.h.i.t," He ran his hand through his hair. "It was...it was f.u.c.king sad, man. There were bodies just lying in the street. Looked like something out of a western movie, like the aftermath of a shootout at the OK Corral. Manning was a ghost town. I could see some of the dead were, you know...primitives. Others were just...people that were killed by them." His face screwed up into a look of distaste. "It looked like some of them were eaten."
"Yeah, we"ve seen a lot of that," Wesley said. "On our way up here we saw a bunch of them huddled over a dead body just tearing into it. It was like watching a zombie movie. Night of the Living Dead or something."
"Yeah, but different," I chimed in. "Instead of zombies, we were watching wild people."
"That"s what they are, aren"t they?" Alex said. He was looking at us in a wide-eyed expression that bordered on fear and worry. "Is it true what they said on the news? That something made everybody turn into wild animals?"
"That"s what it appears like," Wesley said. "We"ve seen them. We"ve had to kill dozens of them."
"No s.h.i.t?" For the first time since I laid eyes on him, he appeared nervous.
"You haven"t seen any of them?" Wesley asked.
"No," Alex said. Did he respond a little too quickly? I couldn"t tell, but it sure felt like it to me. "I haven"t seen any of these wild people, or normal people for that matter. Well, except for you guys."
"Well, like I said earlier, you did pretty d.a.m.n well for yourself," Wesley said. "I honestly don"t know how you did it."
"Thanks," Alex said, relaxing again. "It hasn"t been easy, let me tell you."
"What have you been doing up there in Manning?" I asked.
"Just trying to stay away from these primitives," Alex said. "Trying to survive. I haven"t been able to sleep much. I get maybe four or five hours and spend a lot of time on the porch with my Winchester, just standing guard. You know?"
Wesley and I nodded.
"During the day I sort of check out the area I live in, about a quarter mile perimeter. I live in a little house about a mile outside of Manning. And I just do that to make sure n.o.body else is coming near my property. The rest of the time I try the TV and radio, but I get nothing. My electricity is still on for some reason, but all the stations are off the air."
"You start thinking about winter?" Wesley asked. Despite the laid back atmosphere that Wesley had worked hard (yet subtly) to create, Alex had made no move to venture beyond the area he was standing. "From what I remember, winter is pretty harsh in these parts."
"I haven"t thought about it yet," Alex said. "We"ve just been trying to survive day to day. It"s hard enough just trying to get food."
I frowned, and Wesley jumped on this small window of opportunity right away. "So there are others than yourself?"
"Huh?" Alex asked.
"You just said "we"ve just been trying to survive". Is it more than just you at this house outside of Manning?"
For a brief second the slip-up registered on Alex"s face in a quick succession of emotions: horror, surprise, then his gaze shifted to the left slightly, then back to us. "I mean, I"ve been trying to survive. It"s just me. Sorry. Slip of the tongue.
"Oh," Wesley said. And then, as smooth as can be, Wesley changed the subject. "What does Manning have in the way of supplies?"
Alex seemed to lighten up at this question. "All kinds of stuff. I"ve got a s.h.i.tload of fresh bottled water, a lot of canned goods, and a lot of weapons, mostly rifles. And ammunition."
"Really?" Wesley"s eyebrow rose up. "That"s good to hear. There"s a gun store in Manning?"
"Nah, I got it from a guy"s house. My wife and I, we were members of the Emergency Response Team in Manning, and some of those guys had a local militia. One of them kept a bunch of s.h.i.t in his house."
"Emergency Response Team?" I asked.
"Yeah." Alex shrugged. "You know...kinda like a volunteer fire department."
"Ah." I nodded, pretending I understood. I"d never lived in a rural community before in my life and could only vaguely grasp what he was talking about.
"But they obviously do more than put out fires?" Wesley asked.
"Well, yeah," Alex explained. "We organized safety standards, emergency response standards with the county in the event of a chemical spill or a weather disaster, and we kept a huge stock of emergency supplies, everything from blankets to first aid stuff and medicine. We kept all that stuff at the fire station. That was the first place we went to when we got into town."
"We?" Wesley"s tone of voice and body language made it clear that he"d caught that slip up.
"s.h.i.t!" Alex said, sighing in exasperation. Once again, that shift of the eyes from left to right. "I meant "I" again, not "we"."
"You sure?" Wesley asked. He took a single step toward Alex. He stood before him, hands on his hips, his gaze directed at the smaller man. For the first time since meeting him, Wesley looked intimidating. "This is like the second or third time you"ve said "we" and the way you say it tells me you"re talking about you and other people."
"Really, I just meant myself," Alex said. His voice actually cracked a little. There was no doubt in my mind now that Alex was lying about something. I could see it in his face, in his eyes; they had that deer-in-the-headlights quality about them.
The door to the garage opened and Tracy stepped in. "I"ve got your sandwich and water on the front porch. Come on out."
Wesley held a hand up, still facing Alex. "We"re going to hold off on Alex"s lunch for a moment, Tracy."
"Okay." Tracy didn"t miss a beat; she stepped back outside and closed the door.
"Now level with me, Alex," Wesley said. He was in no way intimidating or putting forth a threatening air, but I could feel the tension in the garage rise. "I don"t think you"re being entirely truthful with us. Who are you talking about when you say "we"?"
"n.o.body," Alex said quickly. "Really, it was just a slip of the tongue-"
"A slip of the tongue because you weren"t thinking about it. Which means you"re referring to more than one person. You and another party, which could be one, two, maybe a dozen or more people. Level with us, Alex. How many people are in your party? You"ve seen my party, and you know we"re just trying to make ends meet over here and survive. We could all benefit in this by teaming up together, don"t you think?"
"Okay, look, I"m sorry if I misled you," Alex said. He was nervous and his speech was fast, as if he were rushing to get to the truth. "I don"t have a party like you, it"s just me and my wife. That"s all."
"Well h.e.l.l, why didn"t you say that before?" Wesley asked.
"I...I didn"t want to..." Alex licked his lips, once again nervously looking from left to right. "I just wanted her to be safe, okay? I just..."
Wesley nodded. "I understand. You were just being cautious."
"Yeah." Alex sighed. The slumping of his shoulders, the relaxing of his posture, was an indicator to me that Wesley had reached the truth. There was no other party like us. It was just Alex and his wife, and he was worried we might be a threat to her. That"s why he wouldn"t mention her.
Wesley patted Alex on the shoulder. "Completely understandable. Is she okay? Is she safe?"
Alex looked up at Wesley quickly, then back down. "Yeah, she"s safe. She"s back at the house."
Once again, I had the impression Alex was trying to hide something again. If Wesley caught the same vibe he didn"t let on. He drew Alex forward and, arm around the younger man"s shoulders, escorted him toward the garage door. "Well, let"s get some food in you. You must be starved."
I followed Alex and Wesley out of the garage and Wesley"s eyes locked with mine briefly on the way to the porch. I read the message behind them loud and clear: Alex still isn"t telling us everything.
Fifteen.
As we made our way out to the porch, Martin joined us. Tracy and Lori were waiting for us at the table. Alex"s sandwich and drink were on a plate and Alex sat down and began to dig in. Wesley nodded at Alex. "Eat all you want. I"m gonna grab myself something to eat, too." Wesley stepped inside and I followed him while Tracy, Lori, and Martin stayed on the porch.
Emily was on the floor clutching her doll as Wesley and I entered the house. "I"ll be in the kitchen," Wesley said.
I nodded and bent down to talk to Emily, who was playing on the dining room floor. "You okay, honey?"
Emily nodded. "Mommy told me to stay here with Mindy." Mindy was the doll"s name.
"She"s absolutely right," I told her. I tickled her tummy and that solemn face turned into a giggly one. "You stay here, okay? We just need to see if this guy your mommy and Lori caught is a good guy or a bad guy."
"He"s a good guy," Emily said.
"He is?"
Emily nodded.
"How do you know?"
"I can tell," Emily said. Her little face was all business. "He"s scared, but he"s good."
Had Emily picked up a vibe from Alex? Was it instinct? I don"t know. I ruffled Emily"s hair, told her to be a good girl and stay in the living room while the grownups talked outside, stood up, and joined Wesley in the kitchen.
Wesley was making a sandwich. As I approached him he got right to the point. "I believe Alex is referring to his wife when he slipped up under questioning. I don"t believe he"s with other people. I think it"s just the two of them on their own. But I get the feeling he"s hiding something about her."
"Why would he do that?" I asked. "To protect her?" It made sense to me. In a post apocalyptic world, I was now very fearful that a marauding band of savages-normal men who"d turned bad-might happen upon us to rape and pillage like the Mongols or Vikings of old.
"Maybe," Wesley said. He slathered mayonnaise on his bread, laid on some thinly sliced ham and turkey breast. "I think it"s something else, though. I think there"s something wrong with her by the way he responded to my questions. He kept shifting his gaze to the left when he answered. That"s a sign people give when they"re lying."
"You think she"s sick?"
"Maybe." Wesley finished making his sandwich. "It could be the reason why he"s so far from his house. If I remember correctly, Manning is too small a town to have a decent pharmacy or medical center, but the town closest to us would have more options. I wonder if he was heading there for medicine or something."
I nodded. "Makes sense to me. How are we going to bring this up to him?"
"Leave it to me," Wesley said. He picked up his sandwich and headed outside. I followed.
When we got back outside I saw that Alex had polished off his sandwich. He was reclining in his chair, talking to Martin, Lori, and Tracy. They all looked up as Wesley and I joined them. "Enjoy your meal?" Wesley asked. He gave Alex a smile.
"Yeah, that was great," Alex said, grinning back. "Thanks."
"Alex was just telling us that he and his wife are only five miles or so from here," Tracy said.
"So we"ve heard," I said, sitting down beside her.
Wesley bit into his sandwich. "You any good at siphoning gas from vehicles?" He asked Alex.
"Not really, no."
"We"ll teach you," Martin said. "It"s how we were able to get out here in the vehicles we came up in."
"Does your house have a fireplace or a woodstove?" Wesley asked. Normally, Wesley didn"t chew his food and talk at the same time. What was causing him to break this habit, I haven"t a clue. To put Alex more at ease, perhaps?
"I got a fireplace," Alex said. He took a sip of water. "And I know I"ve gotta start getting wood for winter. I just...don"t know where to store it."
"How big is your place?" Lori asked.
"Not very big at all. It"s just a two bedroom, with a...whaddaya call it...a mudroom off the back, a kitchen, dining room, living room, and a bathroom."
"And you"re pretty far out of town?" I asked.
He nodded. I could tell he was trying hard not to be nervous. "Yeah, I live off a dirt road."
"And your wife..." Wesley took another chomp off his sandwich, chewed, and swallowed. "What"s her name?"
"Naomi," Alex said.
"Well, with every good man lies a good woman, and I"m willing to bet Naomi had as much a hand in your survival as you." Wesley took another bite of his sandwich.