All Is Silence - Deserted Lands #1

Chapter 7 - Part II

THE NEXT THING LIZZIE KNEW she was alone, covers wrapped warmly around her, and the smell of cooking teasing her nose.

Lizzie snagged her clothes off the floor and pulled them under the covers to dress. Then she sat on the bed with her head in her hands. “Shit.”

She heard steps and glanced up to see Zach at the top of the stairs.

He knocked on the door, but didn’t come in. “Pancakes’ll be ready in a few. You want to go out, free some more cats and dogs and maybe get me a new truck?”

“Sure,” she said. Was last night just a dream?

He didn’t mention anything at all during breakfast. Like it hadn’t even happened. What the fuck? Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am? He got what he wanted and that was it? Lizzie nibbled at a piece of toast, trying to calm down. It was silly for her to be angry at him. He hadn’t led her upstairs.

They went out after breakfast.

“Let’s stop at Trader Joe’s. I want to leave some food out for Spike,” Lizzie said, pulling herself into the cab of Zach’s old pickup.

“You think he’s still around?” Zach pulled away from the curb.

Spike was nowhere to be seen at Trader Joe’s. Lizzie left him a Snickers bar anyway. By the look on his face, Zach thought Spike was a figment of her imagination or something.

They went to the Toyota dealership; Zach had a plan. He wandered up and down the rows while Lizzie lounged in the comfortable leather seat of a Toyota Avalon. Finally, he picked out a black Highlander. He grinned at her. “‘There can be only one!’”

In the showroom, Lizzie spotted a big black cabinet. I’ll bet you it’s locked.” It was. It had a code panel, so all you had to do to open it, was know the code. It looked like it was wired to an alarm and nothing short of plastic explosives was likely to open it. And then only in the movies.

“Damn.” Zach looked like he’d lost his puppy.

“Let’s try someplace a little lower tech.”

At a used car lot down the street, they had to break into the office. Nobody was there to protest as the glass tinkled to the ground, nobody holding people accountable to the law. They found a key rack with all the keys labeled and accessible.

Zach found a solid-looking Ford Expedition. “At least it’s not the Eddie Bauer edition.” He climbed in and it fired right up with a growl. “Good thing gas is cheap and plentiful. These things get crappy mileage.”

“Let’s go scavenging.” Lizzie glanced back in the giant vehicle. They would really be able to get a haul in this thing.

“Gotta fill up the tank,” Zach said.

“The Tank?” Lizzie grinned. “I like it.”

“I meant the gas tank.” He grinned back. “Let’s go get some stuff. Christmas comes early this year.”

“Right. First we check and see if there are animals to free.” Her brain created a list of procedures in her head. “We need something to break windows.”

“Just a sec’.” Zach stuck his head inside the Tank. “Here.” He held one of those car safety hammers. It broke windows cleanly.

“Then we look for cell phones with chargers.”

“Why?”

“If one cell phone quits,” Lizzie explained, “if there’s an unpaid bill, a network goes down, whatever—we have back-ups.”

Zach looked skeptical, but looked like he would humor her. “After that we get anything useful.”

Lizzie grinned, “Or things we want.”

They loaded bags with food from cupboards, tools from garages. Zach grabbed a nice laptop. Lizzie snagged a killer camera, one of those SLR Digitals with a monster lens like someone was compensating.

Zach presented her with a Crown Royal bottle, full and still in the velvety purple bag. They took their time in the houses that didn’t smell and did a quick in and out for pets in the ones that did.

Lizzie drank a slug of the whiskey and filled the bag with jewelry and cell phones. She shrugged off the morbidness and morality.