Survival
11. Story Time
Over the next few days, Celeste continued to deterionate. She never ate the tomatoes- Rachel had them for breakfast instead- and she would only drink if she was pressed into it. Rachel avoided her, not even going near the living room, and Robbie did mostly the same. Ray did find him in the living room on the second day, asking Celeste if she wanted to read a book, but he forced him out of the room as quickly as possible.
On the third day, Tim approached him.
"I'm going out for food- the tins have run out. Maryann's sick and not going anywhere. Either Anna or Gerald is going to stay with her and the kids- are you going to stay here and look after Celeste?"
"What?"
"I said, are you going to-"
"No, I heard- why didn't you tell me before?"
"Should I have?"
"Oh- look, never mind- I want to come with you."
"Then who's going to look after Celeste?"
Ray decided to temporarily drop the subject. "Who's coming with you? Anna or Gerald?"
"I don't know. But really we don't need more than two people- and Robbie wants to come."
"Well, he can't."
"I told him that."
"Good."
They regarded each other for a moment.
"I thought Maryann wanted to go to a hospital."
"She appears to have changed her mind for now. She says she'll go when she's feeling better. Maybe tomorrow. We were going to look at the hospitals and ask around, see how full they are."
"Alright- I'll stay here then," Ray said. "What're you getting from the shops? Just food?"
"Yeah. Unless you want clothes for Celeste."
"Yeah, I do...and, I dunno, magazines and stuff? If there's any around."
"Alright."
A few minutes later and he'd fetched some money and rounded up Anna- she was carrying a gun.
An ex-mother-in-law with a gun- just what he wanted to see.
"Whose is...?"
"Mine," Anna said shortly. "Maryann is asleep...and so is your friend. Maryann is upstairs, and the kids are too...Rachel's in the bedroom, Robbie's in the bath."
"Um, okay- so the water's working?"
"No. It's a bucket of rainwater- there's no more water in the tanks. It was good enough for people a few centuries ago."
"Alright."
Anna placed the gun in her belt, and opened the front door. Tim followed her.
"We'll be back by noon," he said.
"Okay."
The front door banged shut.
Ray went to find the kids- Robbie was on the landing wrapped up in a towel.
"Hey, Robbie."
"Hey-" And then very quickly: "I've been thinking, does Mom know about what you did? Did you ever tell her?"
Ray knew straight away what he was talking about, and wondered what had brought this on. "No, I don't think she does."
"Are you gonna tell her?"
Ray shrugged.
"There's a lot we haven't told each other, after all...I don't even know what happened to her on her way to Boston."
"Don't you? She told me, back when- ur, you know, back when I was-"
"Yeah."
"Ray?" called a voice.
It was Maryann, calling from one of the bedrooms.
"Maryann?"
"I'm in here. You can come in if you want."
Ray went in. Robbie went off to a free bedroom.
Maryann was sitting up in bed.
"So. What did you do?" she asked. At Ray's horrified expression, she added, "I heard what you were saying- Robbie's told me his story already. Maybe it's your turn."
"When did he tell you?"
"Now. A few minutes ago. I made him tell me. I couldn't stand being left in the dark much longer."
Ray thought about it. "There's nothing much to tell," he lied.
"Don't be stupid."
"I'm not, I- look, you'd throw me out if you knew."
"Try me."
"I killed a man because he was shouting and the aliens were near and Rachel was with us."
Maryann looked at him carefully, as if checking he wasn't lying, and said. "Oh."
"Oh? What the hell d'ya mean, oh?"
"I would have done the same thing."
Ray considered that. "Right," he said. "He was a big guy, you know, I thought..."
"Don't be like that."
He shut up.
"Well," Maryann said. "Thanks for saying..." She gave a small groan. "You were saying you didn't know about how I got to Boston, out there, weren't you? I could've sworn I mentioned it at some point."
"Not to me. Are you sure you wanna talk? You look like you'd rather sleep."
"No, talking helps me keep my mind off things. I feel shitty like you wouldn't believe."
Ray grinned at that. "Alright. I'll listen."
"It's not that interesting, compared to what..." She stopped dead and started again. "We were lucky, I think. Just lucky. The storm came, the car stopped, we pulled over, saw it had happened to everyone else, got freaked out. We took our stuff from the car and started walking, and then we heard it-"
Ray nodded.
"And we didn't know what it was, at first, and then this- this thing was on the horizon all of a sudden. And everyone had just stopped to stare, and then gradually people started to run- I dunno if anyone in our crowd got killed, I think we were too far away. And then- Tim was just standing there saying Holy fuck over and over again, so I dragged him away and we kept running, and when we turned around to look at it it was heading away from Boston. So we figured maybe we were safe, and we went in this crowd into the city, and people were saying it was terrorists, they'd invented these killing machines to wipe us out, and then people started saying it was aliens, and you- you don't believe that stuff at first, do you? Until we got right into Boston, and suddenly there was this other one practically on top of us- people panicked like crazy-"
She looked at Ray, who was listening intently.
"-so we ran off again, and people must've got killed at this point because we heard screaming and the lot, and we heard helicopters and I think it actually followed the helicopters- but either way when we got to Mom and Dad's house, the house was still there, and they were still there. So we- just stayed."
Ray nodded.
"Did you think I was dead?" Maryann asked quietly.
"It crossed my mind...but I wasn't going to say that in front of Rachel."
"Of course not."
There was silence while she yawned.
"Robbie did tell me about the tripod, though," she said, in a different tone of voice. "He said you brought one down. Is that true?"
"Do you really think I'd lie about something like that?"
"Just checking," She was looking at him funny...her expression was caught somewhere between awe and...shock, perhaps. "I...well, I don't know what to say to that. I thought you made it up for Robbie, to...I dunno, make him feel better. Anything."
"It's true. But I had help- or I'd have died there otherwise."
Did she just shudder? "Are you gonna explain about it?"
He took a deep breath. "We ended up inside one of those things...Rachel, then me. I had some explosives, grenades, I took them from a car or something...I didn't even think about it, just something in there grabbed me, and it..."
It was very dark and he was completely convinced he wouldn't get out alive. Still. He had to try-
Go home, Rachel, and find your brother. I'm so sorry.
"Ray?"
"I have no idea what I was thinking, it just sucked me into it and I was still holding the explosives and I pulled the pins out. I thought, either I blow it up from the inside and it goes down or I get spared whatever it's going to do to me, y'know? And it worked. And then strangers dragged me back out again. And that's it, really."
Maryann just stared.
"You'll...have to sell that story to a newspaper or something, when all this is over," she said weakly. "That's...incredible."
There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs. It could be either Celeste or Gerald- but it sounded like a girl. Ray went to see. It was her all right.
"I'm lonely," she said in a dead voice.
Rachel looked out of her bedroom to see what was going on, and quickly went back inside again.
"You can...I'll come and sit with you," Ray said quickly. "Just go downstairs, Celeste,"
He nodded at Maryann.
"I guess you know everything now," he said.
"I do." she said.
When they passed the kitchen, they saw Gerald in there with his head in his hands. Ray could only assume this was because of Miriam. Celeste didn't notice.
They went to the living room and sat down on the sofa.
"How did you do it?" Celeste muttered.
"Do what?"
"Bring both of your kids back safely. Have your family left intact."
"I only saved Rachel. Robbie saved himself."
"But you must have done something. Been faster, or been smarter, or something."
"I think it was just luck, Celeste. Pure dumb luck, y'know?"
She shrugged. Then she said, "I heard you talking- did you really kill somebody, or did I hear wrong?"
Ray thought about Matt. To think he'd gotten so far, only to be killed by a human being...it was bitterly unfair. Even he could feel how unfair it was, and he had only met the kid once.
"You heard wrong."
"I thought I must have."
Tim and Anna did indeed return at noon, carrying plastic bags. Both of them looked somewhat grim, although they'd returned with food- sandwiches mostly. Cheese, cheese and pickle, ham and tomato. Ray knew Celeste wasn't going to touch them. Also, they'd found bread, butter, strawberry jam, apples, carrots, chocolates, chips, and lots of water and lemonade. Plus a pack of microwavable pizzas. Pepperoni.
"It's not funny," Tim said. "This is what they're giving away. We saw their little tents and tables- soldiers for miles around giving out microwavable pizzas." He gave a laugh that was close to hysterical, and went to help Maryann get downstairs. When she was safely at the table, he offered her a sandwich, and then said glumly. "We found a hospital. It's not in great shape. It's full of people with- Ray, is Celeste asleep?"
"She was last time I saw her."
"The hospital is full of people like Celeste, and people who're missing an arm or leg or most of their limbs. It's horrible. When I found a doctor to talk to, he said, and I quote- 'Look, you little shit, we're busy.' And when I found someone more willing to listen, he said that really all you could do was take your chances."
Maryann said nothing.
"But we're not going to give up. We're going to find a car and get it working and drive you straight down there and not leave, okay? I'm not losing anyone else, Maryann."
