Mannie woke to a hand jostling him. Where was he?
“Wake up.” Jess’ voice came from behind him. “Mannie?”
“Jess?” He groaned. His blood pounded loud in his skull.
“I’m here, Mannie.”
He let himself breathe. “What time is it?”
“It’s four a.m. Lizzie’s alive.”
Lizzie’s alive? Am I dreaming?
Jess’ face held the hint of a smile.
“Really?” Had he heard her correctly? He didn’t exactly trust his senses right now. He worked at rolling himself over.
“I talked to her. We were headed to meet her when some good old boys interrupted us.” Jess lost the joy of the moment and now anger colored her voice.
Mannie got his legs over the edge of the bed and tried to stand. It was a bad move. His head throbbed and the room spun. “Jesus. What the hell was in that bottle?” He collapsed back, sitting on the bed, hands on his knees to stay vertical.
“Vodka,” BeeGee said, chuckling sleepily. “You drank it all.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s all good.” BeeGee didn’t bother to turn away from the wall. “You needed. I didn’t.”
Mannie took in his surroundings. They were in a small town jail. The three of them were in a cell with two beds and some chairs. A velvet painting of Elvis adorned the wall. An opaque shower curtain hung around when the stainless steel toilet was in use. Jess sat next to him on the edge of the bed covered with a pink frilly blanket. BeeGee lay on the other, a more sedate dark red.
“We’re somewhere on the outskirts of Salt Lake City,” Jess said, “awaiting transport into The City."
“The City? Salt Lake?”
“Provo.” Her face was grim and frustrated. “But they say, The City like it’s some damned relic.”
“The same people who stopped us at the roadblock?” Mannie watched Jess, her anger seemed so out of character he almost laughed. He held his own face tight. Lizzie is alive. Thinking the thought made everything okay. Even if they were locked in a jail.
“I think so. But the people who brought us here are like scouts or something. They call themselves Collectors.”
“What do they collect?” Mannie knew the answer.
“Us. People. Young women seem to be their particular interest.” Jess’ face clouded.
Mannie put a hand on her arm. “Are you okay?” He was glad he hadn’t laughed.
“Yeah,” Jess shook off the darkness. "Just stupid. I drove right up to them and got out. Thought it was Lizzie.”
“You did fine.” Mannie smiled at her and then slumped back down on his side. His hand throbbed, reminding him of the bite. “Shit. What day is it?”
“The twenty-sixth.”
Mannie breathed a sigh of relief; he didn’t need the next vaccine until day after tomorrow.
“A doctor came. He took off your bandage and redid it. I told him you needed the vaccine. He said he’d pass on the word.” Jess seemed to sense his thoughts. “They’re transporting us once the sun comes up.
Mannie nodded. “Okay.”
“Lizzie knows we’ve been captured,” Jess said softly.
Mannie turned to Jess; her voice sounded worried. “Is that bad?”
Jess looked tired, but holding herself together. She was tough, but he was pretty sure it was a thin sheen of strength. “You think she’ll do something?”
“Yeah. We called her Crazy Lizzie in school…” Jess shrugged.
Mannie chuckled. Blood will tell. His Army buddies had tagged him Poco Loco.
“She’ll probably get Zach to help her break us out.”
“Randy will save me.” BeeGee muttered and rolled over. “I’ll be sorry if he kills you.”
Mannie laughed again as Jess rolled her eyes. He tried to stand again, this time the room didn’t move too much. The hangover faded to a fuzzy grogginess with a dull ache at the base of his brain stem as he paced. Regrets plagued his mind. After a while BeeGee sat up and started playing with her phone.
Their transport was delayed. The sun was well up. As much as he wanted to see her, Mannie hoped Lizzie was far away by now.
Jess leaned against the wall on the bed he’d slept on scratching words in a journal.
“You writing about me in there?”
“Maybe.” She grinned up at him. “Some. Random thoughts mostly. Doodles. Trying to make sense of things.” She tore the last sheet out and tossed it at the garbage can. It bounced off the edge and landed on the floor.
She scooched over to make room for him. He hesitated. Too exhausted to worry about what was appropriate, he lay down beside her and closed his eyes.
It seemed like he only had a moment of respite before the cell doors clanged open.