MaddAddam (MaddAddam 3)

"We stayed up on the roof for a while," says Swift Fox, "and then the pigs came out of the drugstore and saw we were up on the roof. They'd found a carton of potato chips, they dragged it outside and had a party, keeping an eye on us the whole time. They were flaunting those chips: they must've known we were hungry. Zeb said to count them in case they split up into groups, with some of them creating a distraction and the others waiting to ambush us. Then they went off to the west, not walking but trotting, as if they'd decided on a goal. And we looked, and there was something over there. There was smoke."

Every once in a while something in the city catches fire. An electrical connection, still attached to a solar unit; a pile of damp organics, going up in a fit of spontaneous combustion; a cache of carbon garboil, heated by the sun. So smoke is not unheard of, and Toby says so.

"This was different," says Swift Fox. "It was thinner, like a camping fire."

"Why didn't you shoot the pigs?" says Lotis Blue.

"Zeb said it would be a waste of time because there were too many of them. Also we didn't want to run out of energy packs for the sprayguns. Zeb thought we should go over there and take a look, but it was getting dark. So we stayed at the drugstore for the night."

"On the roof?" says Toby.

"In the storeroom," says Swift Fox. "We barricaded the door with some of the boxes in there. But nothing happened, except rats; there were a lot of those. Then in the morning we went over to where we saw the fire. Zeb and Black Rhino figured it was the Painball guys."

"Did you see them?" asks Amanda.

"We saw the remains of their fire," says Swift Fox. "Burnt out. Pig tracks all over it. Also what was left of our Mo'Hair. The one with the red braids? They'd been eating it."

"Oh no," says Lotis Blue.

"The Painballers or the pigs?" says Amanda.

"Both," says Swift Fox. "But we didn't see any two guys. Zeb says the pigs must've chased them away. We did find a dead piglet, a little farther along: spraygun kill, Zeb said. A hind leg cut off. He says we should go back for it later because those pigs aren't likely to throw themselves in our way again, not after one of their young has been killed, so we should make the most of any stray pork. But we heard some of those crazy vicious dog splices, so maybe we'll have to fight them for it. It's a zoo out there."

"If it really was a zoo there'd be fences," says Lotis Blue. "That Mo'Hair was stolen, right? It didn't just wander off. Those two guys must've been quite close to us and nobody saw them."

"That's creepy," says Ren.

Swift Fox isn't listening. "Look what else I got," she says. "Pregnancy tests, the kind where you pee on sticks. I figure we'll all be needing them. Or some of us will." She smiles, but she doesn't look at Toby.

"Count me out," says Ren. "Who'd bring a baby into this?" She sweeps her arm: the cobb house, the trees, the minimalism. "Without running water? I mean ..."

"Not sure you'll have that option," says Swift Fox. "In the long run. Anyway, we owe it to the human race. Don't you think?"

"Who'd be the dads?" says Lotis Blue with some interest.

"I'd say take your pick," says Swift Fox. "The line forms to the left. Just choose the one with the longest tongue hanging out."

"Guess you'll be stuck with Ivory Bill then," says Lotis Blue.

"Did I say longest tongue?" says Swift Fox. She and Lotis Blue giggle, Ren and Amanda do not.

"Let's see those pee sticks," says Ren.

Toby stares into the darkness. Should she follow Zeb? He must have finished his shower by now: the cobb-house showers are never long, unless it's Swift Fox, using up all the sun-warmed water. But Zeb is not in evidence.

She stays awake in her cubicle, just in case. Moonlight silvering her eyes. Owls calling, in love with each other's feathers. Nothing she wants.

Weeding

No Zeb all morning. No one mentions him. She doesn't ask.

Lunch is soup, with meat of some kind - smoked dog? - and kudzu with garlic. Polyberries that could be riper. A salad of mixed greens. "We need to figure out how to get some vinegar," says Rebecca. "Then I can do a proper dressing."

"First we'd need to make the wine," says Zunzuncito.

"I'm all for that," says Rebecca. She's put some arugula seeds into the salad, for a peppery effect. She has a plan for making a saltworks - an evaporating pan, down by the shore. Once the coast is clear, she says. Once the Painballers are accounted for.

After lunch there's indoor time, undercover time. The sun's high and burning, the storm clouds not yet building. The air is sticky with moisture.