“What do you want?” the guard at the gate asked.
“Just tell Icely that Creighton has something for him,” Creighton said as he looked out the window of his SUV.
The guard looked through the windshield and saw the wide eyes of the girl in the passenger seat. The guard waved them in as he opened the gate. “You wait in your car until I let him know. You got it?” he asked as he shut the gate behind them.
“It’s me, Creighton, we’re like best friends,” Creighton replied to the man.
“Listen, I have my orders, you get out of that car, best friend or not and you’re gonna get shot.”
“Fine, fine, tell him I’m here,” Creighton said in exasperation. “I’ll wait like a good little boy in here.”
The guard pointed to the man on the porch. “Hey, keep an eye on the smart ass here will you.”
The man on the porch holding an assault rifle nodded.
“Why couldn’t you just let us go?” Jess asked.
“First off, why would I? And secondly even if I had a conscience, which I don’t, if I had let you go and Icely had found out, he would have hung me in the center of town by my neck,” Creighton said as he wrapped his hands around his throat and stuck his tongue out, making strangled noises as he did so. He laughed at Jess’ reaction. “Relax, I’m safe.”
But I’m not, Jess thought.
“Icely says send her and the baby in,” the original gate guard yelled from the porch.
Creighton began to get out.
“He said send them two, he didn’t say anything about you joining,” the guard clarified.
“But I found her, I should be the one to present her,” Creighton protested.
“Yeah, yeah, he thanks you for your gift. Now drop the girl off and screw!” the guard shouted.
Creighton hesitated for a moment, looking at the revolver on his hip.
“Don’t do nothing stupid, man,” the guard said. “Curly over there will cut your car in half before you can get that pea shooter out of its holster.” As if to reiterate the point ‘Curly’ hefted his MP-4.
“Shit, this ain’t right, man,” Creighton said to the guard who merely shrugged. “Get out!” Creighton said to Jess, brimming with hostility. She started to cry. “I said get the fuck out!” he yelled as he leaned across her and opened the door. “Listen, you get out on your own, or I’m going to push your ass out and toss your brother after you.”
“Why are you doing this?” she cried as she hefted a wide-eyed Zach onto her hip.
“Because I’m one of the bad ones.”
Jess got out. Creighton laid a little rubber in Icely’s driveway as he departed.
“Come on,” the guard said almost tenderly as he motioned for Jess to come up the stairs. She moved as if she were a wooden marionette. When she finally stood before the man, he told her to put the baby down and raise her hands above her head. He frisked her, looking for weapons. When he was satisfied she had none, he told her to follow him. She scooped Zach up and clung tightly to him.
Jess noticed the two large opposite facing staircases. Her heart was thudding in her chest, but eased ever so slightly when she realized he wasn’t bringing her up there.
“Come on, Icely wants to see you in his office,” he told her as she hesitated.
“Am I going to be okay?” Jess asked.
The guard didn’t respond as he knocked twice on a large eight-paneled door. He waited a moment before entering. “Here she is, boss,” the guard said as he lightly pushed her in the back and into the room. He shut the door and withdrew back to his previous post.
“Come in, come in,” the man said as he rose from his seat, he was tall—NBA tall—not overly powerful looking, but he did possess a wiry strength. “The baby yours?” Icely asked.
Jess shook her head slightly looking around warily. “He’s my brother.”
“Parents dead?” Icely asked, although it sounded more like a statement than a question. “Of course they are. Why would you be out in this hot mess if they weren’t? Did you have to kill them? Sorry, forget it. I’ve been around roughnecks so long I’ve forgotten how to act civilized. Please sit…have a glass of water.”
Jess sat when she realized it wasn’t so much a request as a demand. There was a set to his eyes that said he was very used to getting his own way.
“Can I see your brother?” Icely said as he stood, arms outstretched.
“Sis, please don’t hand me over to him,” Zach cried.
Jess gripped him a little harder.
“The baby, please,” Icely said as his jaw clenched imperceptibly.
Jess reluctantly handed him over.
“I am SO going to remember this, Jess,” Zach wailed.
Jess half rose to snatch him back, but Icely had already moved back on his side of the desk.
“Oh, he’s a feisty one,” Icely said as he held the crying baby high over his head.
“Please,” Jess said as she stood.
“Relax. What kind of monster do you think I am?” Icely laughed.
Jess noted that Icely had not referred to himself as a man but rather a type of monster.
“I wouldn’t hurt a baby...unless I had to,” he said, looking at Jess. “You know they say these things are our future. I don’t see it.” He brought Zach face-to-face with him. “I think they’re just smelly little wastes of time personally.”
As if on cue Zach released everything he had been holding for the day. “How’s that for smelly?” Zach gurgled.
“Oh, God,” Icely gagged. “Take this thing from me.” He held Zach out at arms’ length.
Jess raced to grab him before Icely dropped him.
“Good boy,” Jess whispered as she held him tight.
“I’ve prepared a room for you. There’s adequate supplies for you and you brother, diapers, formula, all that crap. Now get that stink factory out of my office.”
“Sir,” Jess gulped, “when can we leave?”
“Leave? Why would you want to do that? Have I not been hospitable?”
“It’s not that, it’s just that we were trying to get somewhere,” Jess stated.
“Well you’re as far as you’re going to get. You’ll soon be one of my wives.”
Jess’ face blanched.
“Relax. If you’re good to me, I’ll be good to you...and your brother.” He added the last part as an effective threat. “Go upstairs. Any of the women up there will help you. Get cleaned up and be ready for dinner in a few hours. Now go,” Icely said as he sat back down.
If Jess had felt that she had walked woodenly going into the house, she was ill-prepared for her movement now; an I-beam had more flexibility than she did as she made her way up the staircase. When she made it the top, she was drawn to a room where she heard muffled conversations. She looked into a large sitting room where at least a dozen women were—some younger than her couldn’t even be qualified to be called that just yet—most older than her. Some had vacant eyes as they stared off into the distance, others talked animatedly with the person next to them.
“A baby!” a smallish woman of Asian decent said as she ran over to Jess and Zach. “Oooh, a baby in need of a changing!” she laughed. “Come on, honey, let’s get him cleaned up.”
Jess allowed herself to be led by the arm. Most of the women present did not acknowledge her presence as she passed.
“Thank you...”
“Mia, my name is Mia.” The woman led Jess to her new room.
“I’m Jess. What is this place?” Jess placed Zach down on a changing table.
“I’m sure you met Icely, right?” Mia asked as she cooed at Zach.
“I like her,” Zach purled, small bubbles of spit forming through his lips.
Jess nodded to Mia’s question.
“We are his wives.” Mia pulled off Zach’s diaper. “Oooh, you’re a smelly little thing,” she said as she tickled Zach’s belly. She placed the offending diaper into a disposal canister set-up just for that purpose.
“All of you are his wives?” Jess asked incredulously.
“And so will you be,” Mia said as she cleaned Zach up.
“But I’m not ready to be married…and certainly not to him.” Jess panicked.
“Shhh, sweetheart, I know this isn’t the ideal position to be in, but don’t ever let Icely hear you talk like that or even some of these women. They’ll throw you under the bus to curry favor with him. His ‘favorites’ get more privileges.”
“I’ve got to get Zach and myself out of here, Mia. There’s somewhere I need to be.”
“You’re here now, Jess. There is no leaving…not alive anyway. That man downstairs cares little for the lives of those around him in so much and only as far as he can control them. Marry him, let him feed you and take care of your baby.”
“Brother.”
“When your turn comes up, just moan at the appropriate times and think of happier times.”
“What? My turn? As in sex?” Jess was now in full on panic mode. “Mia, I can’t!”
“You’ll get used to it.”
“I saw some of the looks on those girls in there. Did they get used to it, too?”
“The world isn’t what it used to be. A lot of them watched as their families were ripped apart. Icely is an asshole, but he’s not cruel, at least unless you cross him,” she said as she shuddered.
Mia made a blowing sound on Zach’s stomach. He cooed as she did so. “He’s adorable,” she said as she put some powder on his butt and placed a new diaper on him.
“She’s a keeper!” Zach bellowed.
“Thank you,” Jess said as she picked him up. “You hungry, Zach?”
“Always!” Zach said reaching for her breasts.
“I’ll feed him,” Mia said. “You look exhausted. Get some sleep.”
Jess looked at Mia.
“I’ll stay in here with you while you sleep. Zach and I will get along fabulously! He reminds me of my kids.”
“Kids?” Jess asked. “You don’t look much older than me.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere. I’m twenty-four, not my kids. I used to run a daycare center in Flagstaff. I was out here at a daycare convention of all things when the zombies came. Crock of shit that is, a daycare convention in Vegas, just a way for all of us to get away from the little rug rats for a few days. Thing is, I always wanted to be around them. Babies are always honest. They let you know when they’re cranky, when they’re hungry, happy, sleepy, or stinky,” she said as she tickled Zach. “If only adults were as open as babies, the world would have been a better place.”
“You don’t mind?” Jess asked as she stifled a yawn. She sat down on the edge of the bed. She had barely heard Mia’s response as her head hit the pillow and she drifted off to a better realm.
“Come on, Chubba Bubba, I’m going to heat you some food up.”
Zach was staring at her breasts “What’s wrong with those?” he asked, reaching for them.
“Typical boy, aren’t you,” Mia said as she grabbed some formula and a bottle. She quietly shut the door to Jess’ room and headed downstairs. She was startled when she saw Icely waiting at the bottom for her.
“I see you’ve met my newest,” he said coolly. “What do you think?”
“She’s a sweet girl,” Mia said guardedly.
“But?” Icely prodded.
“It’s not my place to question you.”
“If only all women understood it like you, Mia,” Icely said as he began to stride away. “You’re up tonight.”
“Yay me.” Mia said sarcastically—and very, very quietly.
“Hungry!” Zach told Mia in no uncertain terms.
She looked down at the cherub face. “Sorry, mi amore.” She smiled.