“I can make him one, I’m sure. Something around here would work,” Quinn offered.
“No. I’ll find him one when we get going again. There’ll be a medical supply store in Portland.”
“That’s where you’re headed?”
“Yeah, well, it’s a stop anyway.”
“Why Portland?”
She looked at him again, tracing his face with her eyes so that it seemed like fingers were probing his features. He nearly shivered.
“My mother. She’s in a home there. She’s got early onset dementia.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too.” Alice gripped the vodka bottle and poured one more small shot into her glass, downing it with a toss of her head. “I’m still weighing whether to go or not. I’m sure Portland will be bad, and it’s the last place I want to bring Ty, but I have to know. I couldn’t live without knowing.”
“And if you find her, where then?”
“Iowa.”
“Iowa?”
“There’s a command center there. It was on the news before most of the stations went down. The government set up a huge compound inside some park or mine in Fort Dodge. They were telling everyone it was a safe haven.”
“Why Iowa?”
“I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with being centralized in the country. I’m thinking I would have set up a safe zone somewhere better than Iowa. Somewhere warmer, like Florida.”
“Iowa’s not nice?”
“You’ve never been there?”
He hesitated, almost saying, I’ve never been anywhere.
“No.”
She watched him for a long moment and returned to spinning her glass again.
“I’m guessing it’s the safest place in the country, if you can get there.”
“If you can get there.”
They both fell silent, watching the fire. Ty turned in his sleep again and murmured something. Alice rose from her chair and moved to his side, stroking his brow and smoothing his hair back. Quinn took advantage of the gap in conversation to gather the blankets and pillows from the upstairs closet. He brought them back to the living room and spread them out a makeshift bed on the floor beside the couch. Ty was quiet, and Alice had brought their glasses and the mostly empty bottle of vodka to the kitchen. When she returned and saw the blankets and pillows, she gave him half a smile as she knelt to arrange them further.
“Haven’t slept in a fort bed since I was fourteen. My dad used to make them when I’d have sleepovers.”
“Where’s your dad now?”
Alice paused in smoothing out the comforter on the floor and then resumed.
“Thank you for everything, for taking us in. You’ve been great. Sorry I freaked out on you earlier. It’s been one of those days.”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “The last week has been one of those days.”
She stood and they looked at one another for a beat before he motioned to the hallway.
“There’s a bathroom next to the office if you or Ty need to use it. The water’s off, but we’ll deal with it in the morning if need be.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll sleep in the office tonight if you need me.”
“We’ll be fine.”
He stoked the fire one last time and left the room as Alice settled in beside the couch. He found a sleeping bag in the upstairs closet and unrolled it on the office floor in front of the desk. From there he could see the window and down the hallway. He set the XDM on the floor and positioned himself so that one hand rested on it and closed his eyes. The wind caressed the glass, and several times he nearly sat up to investigate a noise. But when nothing further came, he drifted off into a shallow sleep, dreaming of eyes that watched him from the darkness, unblinking and filled with hunger.
Chapter 10
Limbo
He woke to laughter.