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  Tucker finally looked like he was actually hearing what I was saying. “I just keep thinking you gave me one specific instruction when you left, and that was to stop you if you came back changed. And I don’t want to let you down.”

  “Oh, Tucker,” I said wearily. “It will just make me sick if I have to listen to you or Meri or Phil or Fred or anyone I know here tell me how Gabriel is a great man. I’m hoping that you, my friends, will help me so I don’t turn into a freaking drone myself. Because I think he could do it, even though he’d have to work at it with me. I really think he could do it if he tried.” My voice wavered on the last word, and I snapped my mouth shut before I made myself cry again. Because it was true. I was scared that maybe the next time I saw Gabriel, he’d win me over. Or maybe it wouldn’t happen until he had become bored of the novelty of someone resisting him. It was so much worse to know that possibility was out there. It was like the difference between going into a room and not knowing what was in there—could be anything, good or bad, and knowing that it was very bad and having to go in anyway.

  Tucker stood up and walked to a far part of the deck and looked out at the trees. I waited, letting my emotions cool and trying to think about other things, just to give my brain some variety. When at last he came back to me, he looked more decisive. “I’ll back you up, Madde,” he said steadily. “I believe you’re doing the best you can for us, and I need to stop getting in the way. We’ll make some kind of plan of action, probably another meeting, and introduce the idea of joining up with Gabriel, yet retaining our partial independence as the best of all possible worlds. How does that sound?”

  I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off me. “Thank you,” I said, sighing. “Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you.”

  Tucker tipped his head and gave me a mischievous grin. “So, Karen was looking at me?”

  “Yes, she was. You might want to go chat with her sometime. If you ignore the fact that she thinks Gabriel is perfect, then she’s very nice. But look out, my friend. She gave us some insights on what one of Gabriel’s assistants was thinking before we went in, and she was right-on. So if you don’t really feel attracted to her, better not try to fake it.”

  “Oh, right.” He looked thoughtful. “I’m sorry, Madde. I know I’ve made this harder on you than it already was.”

  I smiled at him, and meant it as I said, “That’s why I trusted you to be in charge, and that’s why I think that, as long as you haven’t met Gabriel, you should stay in charge. I’m not completely sure I trust myself.”

  “We’ll do it together, if you want. Besides, there are a lot of other people here—let a few of them take on the burden,” he said.

  “Not to change the subject, but have you talked to Meri about her ‘blackouts?’”

  “What blackouts?” He frowned.

  “Er, okay, I have a big mouth, never mind.”

  He said, “Too late now. Tell me.”

  “Ask Meri. Tell her I spilled the beans. I’m not really worried about her yet, but we were talking about getting some of our residents with any medical training together, and once we do, I’d like someone to take a look at her. Just as a precaution.”

  Tucker looked truly worried. I rushed to reassure him. “No, don’t freak out on me. Just keep an eye on her, okay? And try to get her to talk to you. She is so used to talking to Cal all the time, and now, with him not available, uh …” I realized as I said this that I was marching into territory I didn’t want to be in. I didn’t know how Tucker really felt about Meri, or vise-versa. I knew they were close, but had they crossed that line? The thought of the two of them together felt wrong, but I wasn’t sure why that was. Had I sounded like I wanted him to tell me the status?

  Tucker gave me a look that told me he knew exactly why I’d suddenly gone quiet.

  He seemed about to say something, and I actually leaned towards him to hear what he was going to say. A movement at the sliding door distracted him, and the Gabriel guy came out. I was exasperated. I really wanted to know what was happening between Tucker and Meri, but I wasn’t about to ask.

  “A woman is looking for you,” he said to me. He looked a little uncomfortable, and I suddenly felt like a total creep for treating him like a nameless stooge. It wasn’t his fault Gabriel had bewitched him.

  I smiled at him. “Thanks.” He smiled shyly. “Uh, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I caught your name.”

  He looked surprised. “I’m Ryan.” He started to put out his hand, and then lowered it, looking sheepish.

  “Well, thanks for letting me have some privacy.” He nodded, and with a shrug at Tucker, I went inside the house.

  Pewter turned when I came in. “Hey Lambchop. Do you have a minute?”

  I nodded. I wanted to fill her in on what had been going on, although I didn’t think I’d include all the strife between Tucker and I, especially since everything seemed ironed out now.

  I went to her and she said, “Uh, can we take a drive?”

  I frowned. “Sure, but I think I’m going to have a shadow. It’s a long story but I have a bodyguard.”

  She opened her mouth, but I forestalled her. “Don’t ask. I’ll explain later. So do you want me to try to get him to follow us in another car?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t have anything to hide, although he might think I’m nuts.”

  I gave her a sassy grin. “Oh, so he’ll get to know the real you?”

  “Whatever.” She looked skyward as if asking for help from God to deal with friends like me.

  I went to Ryan, trying to be nice, and asked him which he’d prefer. He looked unsure, so I went ahead and put in my two cents worth. “You know, you might actually might be able to protect me better in a separate car. I mean if something happens, we’d have two vehicles.” I tried to sound persuasive.

  He agreed instantly. I wanted to do a happy dance, but decided that probably wouldn’t be in keeping with my air of authority. Ten minutes later we were in our little vehicle train on the way into town. Pewter wanted to hear first about what had happened in St. Paul, and why I now had a bodyguard.

  As I finished with my story, Pewter stopped the car on a side street in the town, near the grocery store, which had been well looted. She didn’t make a move to get out, so neither did I. “You know what I think?”

  “No, but I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

  “I think angel-Gabriel is after your ass.” She wagged her eyebrows. “Is he as cute in person as he is on TV? Seriously, do you think you could get me some of that? Does he have a brother?” She looked at my expression. “You’re just upset because he’s not your average guy. You’re too straight to go for the freaky types.”

  “Did you listen to anything I’ve told you?”

  She stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at me. “Only you would spaz out because some guy wants you. Just jump him. You’ll feel better.”

  “That’s lovely advice. Reminds me of Mom. Gosh, I miss her,” I said sarcastically.

  Pewter laughed. “Actually it sounds more like your dad.”

  “If my dad ever told me to go ‘jump’ someone, I’d fall over with shock.”

  She laughed a little, but was looking out at the store. “Okay, my turn, right?”

  “Yes.”

  She took a deep breath, carefully not looking at me. “It’s sort of funny I told you to go jump someone, because, um, I sort of … did.” She snuck a peek at me.

  I was careful not to judge. Pewter had always been rather relaxed about the whole sex thing. I was cool with it though. I waited, but she didn’t continue.

  “This can’t be because you slept with someone.” I gestured to the car.

  “No, it’s more complicated than that. Come with me.” She opened the door and got out of the car, leading the way across the littered street to the grocery store. “I figure you’re going to think I’m crazy anyway, so I might as well just show you what I mean.”

  I noticed Ryan following us at a discrete distance and
reminded myself to thank him later. I also noticed he was armed. I hope he knew what he was doing so he didn’t shoot us by mistake. I was getting used to seeing guns on most people, but I wasn’t yet used to seeing them out in the hand ready to use. I said to Pewter, “I won’t think you’re crazy. My definition of crazy has changed a whole lot since the bombs.”

  “Wait and see, Lammie,” she said.

  Instead of going in through the door, she stepped in through a broken plate glass window. I carefully followed her. “Let me guess,” I said as we crunched over glass. “You’ve developed a fear of doors?”

  She gave a good snort. “You try to open those electric doors when they have been shut off or whatever. They’re a bitch-kitty.”

  She was heading down one of the aisles now. About halfway down, she turned. I saw that it had once been a bread aisle. Now it was mostly empty, but what was left was disturbed. “Okay. Mr. Bodyguard? Don’t shoot anything. It’s cool, okay?”

  I was too curious to tell her his name was Ryan. I watched her.

  Pewter took a deep breath, then suddenly opened her eyes and looked at me. “Oh. I don’t know if it will work with you here. Maybe you and—”

  “Ryan,” I supplied quickly.

  “Cutie over there could just step back as far as you can, but you still have to be able to see, okay?”

  I retreated with Ryan until she nodded. She took another deep breath, letting it out slowly. She closed her eyes and began to very slowly bring her arms, currently at her sides, up in the air to the sides of her body, palms up. Her movements were so slow that it took her almost a full minute to get them straight out horizontally from her body.

  At first I didn’t see anything, and was wondering how long to wait when I felt Ryan tighten next to me. I had been watching Pewter, and that’s not where the action was. It was on the floor, and on one of the shelves. When I realized what they were, I stepped back, disgusted.

  Rats, some mice, and two squirrels were coming out to circle around Pewter as if she was the princess of rodents in a Disney cartoon. Ryan was getting nervous, I could tell by his breathing. I leaned over and spoke in his ear, “It’s okay. Calm down.”

  I think he nodded, but my eyes were fastened on Pewter. She opened her eyes and looked down. She didn’t look at all surprised to see the rodents. She glanced up at me, dropping her arms and saying, “Creepy, isn’t it?”

  At the sound of her voice, the rodents scattered. Soon there wasn’t even a whisker left.

  I waited while she walked over to us. “Yes, other people get to tell the future, I get the power of calling creepy rodents.” Her voice was sarcastic.

  “How did you figure this all out?”

  She looked uncomfortable. “Well, see, that’s not really what I wanted to show you.” She gave a rather strained smile. “Good news and bad news. The bad news is that this is just to warm you up for the next one. The good news is that your friend is the damned pied piper.”

  “The next one?” I said warily.

  “Yes.” She seemed resigned now to move ahead. “Follow me, human female of the Lambchop persuasion, and I shall show you wonders you haven’t dreamed of before.”

  She quickly left the store, going back to the car. Ryan looked at me worriedly before going to his own vehicle. I slid into the front passenger seat. “Where are we going now?”

  “The woods north of town. Pickwick Park.” She put the car in drive and headed out, weaving around cars left in the road. Unlike the cities, we hadn’t cleared the streets here. Maybe we should be thinking about doing that. I wondered if Gabriel would give us some sort of checklist to follow. Number one, clear the corpses. Number two, find your residents’ new creepy powers. Number three, move the cars.

  Pewter wasn’t looking at me. I respected her choice and stayed quiet. It wasn’t far to Pickwick Park, a popular place for the occasional teenager to come and make out. I’d been here a few times, but I hadn’t been all that popular with the kids who came here. Probably an early warning of the frigidity to come. We wound our way through the park until we were nearly as far in as you could get. She stopped the car and said, “Can you keep a leash on Ryan the boy scout back there?” She looked serious this time. “I swear I’ll break his skinny neck if he shoots that gun.”

  I nodded, having no idea what was about to happen. I followed her as she walked deliberately to where the woods thickened near the dead end. I angled over to walk next to Ryan. “Put the gun away. Whatever is going to happen, you can’t shoot anything, got it?”

  Ryan’s eyes were wide and he nodded, but he kept the gun in his hand. At least he pointed it at the ground. Pewter held out a hand to stop us, although she continued to walk until she was nearly out of sight in the woods. I saw her stop and again slowly raise her hands, her head thrown back, eyes closed. This time it took even longer, and she finally dropped her hands and looked around her expectantly. I couldn’t see anything, and wondered if it hadn’t worked this time. Then I heard something moving in the woods, and I backed off as I saw a shadow in the trees.

  Ryan was getting nervous again, and I turned and hissed at him that he absolutely could not shoot that gun unless I said so. He nodded and again pointed it at the ground. Now the shadow was taking shape as Pewter slowly walked backwards towards Ryan and I, apparently leading the creature as she went.

  I gasped as I realized two things simultaneously. First that it was a man, and then that it was one of the runners. Hard on the heels of that thought was the realization that it was the guy who had been on a date with Phil that night that the bombs had come. New Guy! What was his name? I thought and it came to me—Chris Masters. I had heard that he disappeared during the time I’d been sick and people had been freaking out and hadn’t heard anything more. But here he was. Barefoot, although the night time temperatures still were often in the forties, and dirty and moving in the fashion of an animal afraid of people.

  Pewter kept leading him forward until he was at the edge of the trees. There was another movement deeper in the trees, and as I looked carefully, I could see there were more animals or creatures or people deeper in the trees, maybe five or six. I was getting nervous. Were these people dangerous?

  Ryan was visibly shaking now. The possibility of Ryan killing someone was suddenly greater than one of the runners killing us. After all, Ryan was armed. Forgetting that I was untouchable, I turned and quickly put one hand on his gun hand, pushing it down from where it had risen again, and with the other hand I cupped his face and looked him in the eyes. “Drop the gun.” I said with as much force as I could while not raising my voice.

  His fingers loosened and I took the gun from him, handling it carefully. I clicked back on the safety and kept it in my hand. Ryan was staring at me, more horrorstruck that I had disarmed him than that unknown people were in the woods.

  I dismissed him and turned back slowly to look at the runners. I could see three fairly clearly in the woods, as well as Pewter’s runner, who had come about ten feet out of the woods but couldn’t be coaxed to come out any further. He looked at me but made no sound of any kind. He looked intently at Pewter, and she said something to him in a low voice I couldn’t catch. He moved closer to her, and his posture was reminding me of something. I watched him, puzzled now, until I understood. He was trying to screen her from us. He was trying to protect her.

  Pewter put her hand on his arm and spoke some more. He obviously wanted to go back into the trees. Without taking her eyes from his, Pewter said in a louder voice, “He doesn’t like the gun. Put it down.”

  I didn’t ask how she knew that. I slowly put the handgun on the ground in front of me.

  Pewter still wasn’t looking at me, had her back to me, but seemed to know what I’d done. She put one arm around Chris and he rubbed his head against her like a cat. I remembered the beginning of Pewter’s story when she had said that she had ‘jumped’ someone. Could she have … no, I couldn’t wrap my mind around that one. This guy seemed more animal than huma
n.

  “Go ahead and come closer. He says he won’t run.”

  I took a few slow steps, suddenly remembering Ryan. I turned and looked at him fiercely. “If you shoot at any of them, you might hit me. Think of how Gabriel would feel about that! Leave the gun on the ground.” I had no idea if he would or not, but decided to chance it.

  I walked slowly towards Chris, until I was only 15 yards away. I stopped, addressing Pewter. “Can he understand me?”

  Pewter gave a low laugh. “Yes.”

  Chris looked at Pewter and smiled. Then his eyes came back to me. He’d been watching me nearly the entire time I approached. “Uh, hi Chris. Do you remember me?”

  He looked back at Pewter, and she said, “I don’t think he does.” She glanced back at me. “Chris?” She looked at him. “Your name was Chris?” He just looked at her. She smiled as if he’d said something amusing. She glanced back at me. “I wanted you to meet him.” To him she said, “I need to talk to her. I don’t know what to do. I’m not like you.” He put out his hand and touched her face. She closed her eyes and leaned into him. “Will you stay near here?” They exchanged looks. “I will come back soon.” She promised. She reached up on her toes and pulled his head down, kissing him in a way that let me know they were more than casual acquaintances. I turned away, wanting to give them some privacy.

  I heard Pewter’s voice. “Soon,” she promised again. Before I could turn around, he was off, dashing lithely into the woods. Pewter stood until all of the runners had disappeared in the woods.

  She turned to me. “Well, Lambchop, how’s that for freaky boyfriends?”

  I had no words.

  Chapter 13: Freaky Boyfriends

  We returned to the car, and Pewter sat in the passenger seat this time. I started the car and turned the heater on high. The wind was from the north, and I thought it was getting colder. I’d told Ryan to go and wait in his car. I’d kept the gun over his mild objections. I couldn’t let him shoot any of the runners.