Rescue Day

K walked over to the man and looked down. He wasn’t making any noise, wasn’t pleading for his life or even breathing heavy, but K could see his hand, sprawled out in front of him, opening and closing against the dirt covered concrete as if in a useless attempt to drag himself forward.

K aimed the pistol at the back of his head, drew in a breath, and squeezed the trigger. The shot echoed through the chewed-out building and the hand stopped moving. A moment later and BC came bouncing across the slabs of broken concrete and twisted, rusting metal. She looked both concerned, and amused and it struck K, not for the first time, that beneath the layer of grime and soot she was quite pretty, a girl of maybe sixteen or seventeen with light brown hair and crystal blue eyes. In a different world, a different time, K might have asked her out, maybe they would have gone to a movie or to the mall. K knew about both places, although he had never been to a mall and hadn’t remembered ever going to a movie.

He had only been four when the adults first began getting sick and things had happened rather quickly after that. No one knew why the disease hadn’t affected the children, although many of them were taken into labs and hospitals and studied endlessly. Some were experimented on, their bodies probed and their brains broker. They had injected them with chemicals, had injected them with the virus and watched, and waited. Those children, the broken, were now known as the Screamers, and K knew it was best to stay out of their way.

His parents had died sometime after the first wave. He struggled to remember exactly when now but he thought it had been before his fifth birthday. First his mother, and then his father, both growing pale and skeletal, the virus eating them away from the inside. Once you had it, it moved fast and within three weeks they were both just gone.

It was rare that they saw adults these days. Most had either died from the virus or had been killed by the children who remained. Mostly the virus had affected people in their mid-twenties or later although there had been stories of people younger. The first signs were subtle, dark rings under the eyes, dry, itchy skin and a runny nose. Then the real trouble kicked in. People would grow weak, unable to walk or stand. It destroyed their muscle leaving little more than a shell until finally, they died. Mostly it was organ failure that took them in the end.

It was LJ who found him, LJ who took him in and gave him a home. How long ago had that been? Eleven, maybe twelve years? LJ was gone now too. Smith, the new leader, had given LJ release. LJ was older, not an adult but close. K hadn’t believed he was sick, but Smith had assured the others that he was showing the symptoms and that’s why he’d shot him. After that, K had decided to leave the group and set out alone. He’d found BC sleeping in the backroom of an old Grocery store where she’d set up a makeshift bed atop a set of old supply shelves. Someone had taken at her, beat her pretty good, and she was in a bad way. K had helped nurse her back to health and the two had been inseparable ever since. He’d been close to LJ, but his bond with BC was stronger somehow, maybe even love if love were still a thing.

“He dead?” BC asked kicking a piece of broker glass aside and pulling up beside K.

“Is now.” K replied flatly.

“Was he sick”? She asked matter of fact.

K shrugged. “Dunno. Think so, he was scratching his hand a bunch, but it don’t matter. He was a grown up and he tried to take my pack.”

BC nodded without looking up at him. She sniffed, ran a hand under her nose, crinkled it, smiled at him and, giving him a light punch to his shoulder, shifted her voice into her best Bogart . “Let’s go home see. There ain’t anything to scrounge here, besides, I’m hungry toots, and today is my rescue day”.

BC turned and started to walk away, and K’s hand dropped to his pocket. It slid inside and he let his fingers glide over the metal trinket there, feeling the smooth round curve of it and the rigid chain. He watched her go, never taking his hand from it, his head swimming with thoughts, his body tingling.

BC turned back and threw her hands up. “You coming”? She said giving her arm a quick rub before dropping it back to her side.

Yanking his hand from his pocket K nodded and set off after her.

Rescue day was an important day. Not many of them remembered their birthdays anymore but none forgot their rescue day. For K it had been with LJ but for BC it had been a girl called Digit. BC never told K much about Digit, only that she had found BC wandering a neighborhood and given her food and shelter, and that Digit was killed by Screamers a couple years back.

Tonight, was a good night and the two of them ate a full dinner of grilled squirrel and canned vegetables and K surprised BC with a Little Debbie cupcake he had found in the cellar of a house weeks before.

“I was saving it” he told her, “Because I knew your rescue day was coming up”. She had laughed and hugged him, throwing her arms around his neck, and squealing with delight at the treat. She’d split it in two, and K had taken the half without argument and when it was gone BC had licked the wrapper and the two had burst into laughter at the smeared chocolate on her face.

Later they told stories, BC sharing the one about the Spider who could spell words in her web and K telling the tale of a boy who went to play with monsters in the woods. They talked all night, watching the fire spit its embers and sparks into the sky as they sat side by side on the roof of the store. It was a warm night and K suspected they would sleep outside, pulled tight in their ratty sleeping bags, lying close together watching the stars until they both drifted into slumber. That thought made him smile.

“What are you grinning for”? BC asked noticing the expression as it crossed his face.

K let out a small chuckle. “It’s a good night isn’t it?”

She nodded and took hold of his hand. “It’s a great night.”

K glanced down at his hand in hers, felt a blush begin to cover his cheeks, pulled it free and stood up. “BC? I got you something, for your Rescue day I mean”.

She looked up at him, those blue eyes reflecting the fire light, and he felt something slide from his throat into his chest. “Something else?” She said. “But the cake…”

K shook his head and let his hand go to his pocket. “The cake was nice, but this is your real present.”

He withdrew is hand and extended it to her. Slowly he let his fingers open exposing the locket held within. It was in the shape of a heart, no bigger than a quarter. The silver was tarnished in places and the chain kinked in a couple of places, but BC stared at it as if it were the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

“I found it that day we were by the river.” K began, “It was under the seat of that little boat. I cleaned it up best I could.”

She continued to stare at it without taking it from him and after a moment a tear began to form in the corner of her eye. She wanted to stop it but she was unable to move and so it puddled there a moment before sliding down her cheek leaving a clear track along its path. She reached out her hand, hesitated, then lightly lifted the locket, and got to her feet.

“I love it.” Her words were barely more than a whisper.

BC leaned forward and gently kissed K on his lips. It was soft and simple, then she turned and walked to the furthest corner of the rooftop. K did not try and follow, did not ask if she was ok. He knew that showing emotion like the ones he had just witnessed from her was difficult for BC and he knew he needed to give her time to process. He slept alone but he did not mind, and in the morning, he found her sitting next to a small fire cooking a breakfast of canned beans and peaches.

K moved over and sat beside her. He could tell she had cried more through the night and now her face was washed nearly clean. Neither spoke for quite a while until finally BC broker the silence.

“I need you to have this back.”

K looked over and saw she was extending the Locket out to him. It was hanging from her hand, swaying lightly in the morning air. BC refused to make eye contact and he could feel the pain growing inside. He reached over and took it without question.

“How long?” K asked, not wanting to hear the answer but needing to know.

“Couple days.” She replied.

K nodded and slipped the locket back into his pocket. They ate without conversation and when they were done BC took her pack and began filling it. He watched her, all the while his heart aching, and when she was done, she approached him and took his hands into hers once more.

“It was my best rescue day ever.” She said and now it was K who felt the tears beginning to swell in his eyes.

BC leaned forward and kissed him again. As she drew back, he took one more look into her crystal blue eyes and this time he noticed what he had not seen before. Beneath were the faint outlines of dark circles just beginning to form.

K reach up and gently touched her cheek. “Be safe.” He said, and then he turned and walked away, the locket secure in his pocket.