He narrowed his eyes at me, waited for me to tune him out or tell him I’d heard enough. “This foot long tubelike thing shoots out her mouth. You could see the pointed end. But the man just fucking sat there. Even when it stabbed him in his chest. The camera was jerking around, darting out of the room, but you could still see that tube stuck in the man’s chest. It was like a straw sucking up his…juices.” His lips pinched in a line, eyes locked on mine.
Maybe he expected a shocked reaction. But I’d seen it before. In my nightmares. “The infection is transmitted during this feeding?”
“Yeah. The nymph injects some kind of wax-like compound that turns man into aphid.”
“Have you seen this in person? The mutated mouth?”
“Not close up. They’re impossible to run from because they move too damn fast.” He paused as if replaying a specific memory. “You can’t see them move. A fucking feat so terrifying, it feels like a trick on the eyes. I’ve kept my distance.”
I covered my mouth with my hands. To think he’d been worried about my safety when he left me alone to take these day trips. “Jesus, Joel. What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I’ve only crossed paths with one a couple times and not until recently. I heard the rainy season kept them at bay. Water may be a weakness worth investigating.”
I sagged against the headboard. Insectile humanoids. No women. Joel seemed so convinced. How did I avoid the infection? Just staying secluded? Maybe there were other mothers holed up like me. But my A’s…the virus had been in the house.
His bright eyes roamed my face. “It’s just you and I left in Grain Valley. Maybe in all of Kansas City. It’s so desolate out there.” A shadow passed over his face. He lowered his head. “I need you, Ba-y. I need you to help me figure this thing out.”
Guilt squeezed my chest. I’d abandoned him, and he didn’t want to deal with it all alone anymore. “Okay. Help me take a shower and tell me more.”
I swung my legs over the side of the bed. From the corner of my eye, I caught him staring at a rose etched hair-clip on my night stand. Annie’s clip.
He lifted me and ducked his head, but not before I glimpsed the wetness in his eyes. My lips gravitated to his neck as he carried me away from the bed, the glass doors, and the lingering handprint.
Over the next two weeks, my insomnia persisted, but I ate everything Joel put in front of me. Day by day, my strength returned. We didn’t have much of a plan, but we agreed on two priorities. Stay alive. Seek truth. Those words became our mantra.
He wouldn’t let me run his day trips with him. Advertising my survival had too many unknown repercussions.
I held him in a hug. Given the scarcity of survivors, he’d have to travel out of state to gather supplies and information. He’d be gone all day.
When he left, my imagination went feral with visualizations of Joel in an ambush. Joel being gang raped. Joel riddled with bullets. Mutated Joel. To curb these thoughts, I cleaned our guns and took inventory of our ammo and food supply. Our produce was bare. He warned me to stay inside, but the spinach needed harvesting in the greenhouse and I needed to stay busy. His thorough patrol of the town had confirmed we were the only humans left for miles. I grabbed my USP .40 handgun on the way out.
The pool sat a few steps off the back porch. Hydrangeas, rhododendrons and peonies bordered the walk around the pool to the greenhouse. Cyprus mulch laded the air with fond memories. Once upon a good life, I had spent hours making over the various plants.
In the greenhouse, I settled the pistol on the lip of the potter filled with Brussels sprouts and tackled the spinach, green onion, basil. The plants weren’t keeping up. Maybe Joel would find more seed.
The hairs rose on the back of my neck. I stilled my movements.
Nothing. No birds. No katydids. No rustling trees.
I stepped out. Two familiar figures stood on the retaining wall on the other side of the pool. Annie wore her sundress with rainbow stitching. Aaron hunched behind her in his Star Wars shirt, an arm wrapped around her leg, the other around a teddy bear named Booey. I took a steeling breath and approached the pool on shaky legs.
Annie’s face lit up. “Look Mama. I found him. See?”
The wind caught her dress and she held it in place. Aaron looked up at his sister and giggled.
She ruffled his hair and pinned me with the golden glow of her eyes. “Mama? The water’s warm now. Can we swim today?”
My heart jumped to my throat. I stopped a few feet before them. “I don’t think so, honey.”