dumbfounded.
“Well, tailor is being a bit too generous. I worked in the men’s department of JC Penny.”
I slump to the cold, damp rock, sitting crosslegged as I face him.
“I never actually tailored clothing, but I’d measure men for suits, send away for orders, stuff like that.”
“Huh,” is all I can say.
“Yep,” he says. “That’s me. That was my life before all this. Can you imagine it? A young man like David or Steve walks in and some old fart like me comes up to them. Can I help you, sir? Just looking? No problem. Well, we have just received the fall selection, and we’ve got tweed jackets on special. If I can be of any assistance to you, please let me know. ”
I’m silent.
Ferguson laughs.
“Can you believe that horse shit? Ha ha ha. All this stuff we used to care about. All the things we thought were so damn important. All the crap we’d stress about. Car payments, mortgages.”
With a gauze bandage, I daub at the blood on the side of his neck, cleaning some grit out of a deep graze.
“Someone wouldn’t show up for a shift. Men’s would be down to one, and I’d carry on like it was the end of the world. Hah! If only I’d known.”
He hands the canteen back to me. Up until now, I haven’t thought about drinking, but I’m insanely thirsty. I gulp down mouthfuls of water. I don’t care about the water running down my neck. I’m soaked anyway.
“Where were you?” Ferguson asks.
I wipe my mouth, knowing what he means.
“I was young,” I begin. “Six or seven. I’m not really sure. I was at school, I know that.
“One minute, we were doing math. The next we were in lockdown. There was no clanging fire alarm, no noise, nothing. Ms. Carter saw the silent alarm flashing above the door, a tiny blue light informing her she needed to secure the room, I guess, but she was really calm. She asked us to line up at the back of the room and then got us to sit down as she locked the door. She told us it was just a drill, that there was nothing to be afraid of, and then the gunfire started.
“Everyone was so afraid. We thought there was a shooter. Ms. Carter barricaded us in at the back of the room, turning over desks and chairs, keeping us out of sight from the door. She was so brave, but I don’t think she made it past that first day. Not many people did.”
Ferguson nods, saying, “So how did you escape?”
We don’t have time for this. I can see dark shapes moving along the riverbank in the distance. Their motion is chaotic. I don’t think they’ve seen us yet, and suddenly I’m acutely aware of the wind direction. Smell, sound, sight—it’s pretty much the opposite of how we function. For us, it’s sight, sound, smell. There’s a gentle breeze drifting downstream with the rapids. It won’t be long.
“I had the day off,” Ferguson says when I don’t respond. “I’d worked nine or ten days straight and was supposed to be at the mall, but I’d had enough. I didn’t care that there was no one to cover my shift. The store manager should have figured that out instead of running me into the ground. Strange, huh? Being a stubborn bastard probably saved my life.
“I lived in a rundown apartment about two miles from the center of town. Not a good place to be at the best of times, let alone during the outbreak. Forty units built in a square around a decrepit old swimming pool. I was on the second floor backing onto the main road.
“Cops were going crazy that day. Sirens went off non stop. Damn annoying is all I remember. Then I heard yelling and screaming down by the pool. I step out onto the walkway and there’s a dead body floating face down in the water, only he ain’t dead. He’s writhing in pain.
“The complex manager stands by the pool with a Mossberg shotgun held to his shoulder, unloading buckshot into this guy’s back. The manager can’t pump that baby fast enough. Empty shells skid across the wet tiles. The water is brilliant red. I mean, like, bright
“Well, tailor is being a bit too generous. I worked in the men’s department of JC Penny.”
I slump to the cold, damp rock, sitting crosslegged as I face him.
“I never actually tailored clothing, but I’d measure men for suits, send away for orders, stuff like that.”
“Huh,” is all I can say.
“Yep,” he says. “That’s me. That was my life before all this. Can you imagine it? A young man like David or Steve walks in and some old fart like me comes up to them. Can I help you, sir? Just looking? No problem. Well, we have just received the fall selection, and we’ve got tweed jackets on special. If I can be of any assistance to you, please let me know. ”
I’m silent.
Ferguson laughs.
“Can you believe that horse shit? Ha ha ha. All this stuff we used to care about. All the things we thought were so damn important. All the crap we’d stress about. Car payments, mortgages.”
With a gauze bandage, I daub at the blood on the side of his neck, cleaning some grit out of a deep graze.
“Someone wouldn’t show up for a shift. Men’s would be down to one, and I’d carry on like it was the end of the world. Hah! If only I’d known.”
He hands the canteen back to me. Up until now, I haven’t thought about drinking, but I’m insanely thirsty. I gulp down mouthfuls of water. I don’t care about the water running down my neck. I’m soaked anyway.
“Where were you?” Ferguson asks.
I wipe my mouth, knowing what he means.
“I was young,” I begin. “Six or seven. I’m not really sure. I was at school, I know that.
“One minute, we were doing math. The next we were in lockdown. There was no clanging fire alarm, no noise, nothing. Ms. Carter saw the silent alarm flashing above the door, a tiny blue light informing her she needed to secure the room, I guess, but she was really calm. She asked us to line up at the back of the room and then got us to sit down as she locked the door. She told us it was just a drill, that there was nothing to be afraid of, and then the gunfire started.
“Everyone was so afraid. We thought there was a shooter. Ms. Carter barricaded us in at the back of the room, turning over desks and chairs, keeping us out of sight from the door. She was so brave, but I don’t think she made it past that first day. Not many people did.”
Ferguson nods, saying, “So how did you escape?”
We don’t have time for this. I can see dark shapes moving along the riverbank in the distance. Their motion is chaotic. I don’t think they’ve seen us yet, and suddenly I’m acutely aware of the wind direction. Smell, sound, sight—it’s pretty much the opposite of how we function. For us, it’s sight, sound, smell. There’s a gentle breeze drifting downstream with the rapids. It won’t be long.
“I had the day off,” Ferguson says when I don’t respond. “I’d worked nine or ten days straight and was supposed to be at the mall, but I’d had enough. I didn’t care that there was no one to cover my shift. The store manager should have figured that out instead of running me into the ground. Strange, huh? Being a stubborn bastard probably saved my life.
“I lived in a rundown apartment about two miles from the center of town. Not a good place to be at the best of times, let alone during the outbreak. Forty units built in a square around a decrepit old swimming pool. I was on the second floor backing onto the main road.
“Cops were going crazy that day. Sirens went off non stop. Damn annoying is all I remember. Then I heard yelling and screaming down by the pool. I step out onto the walkway and there’s a dead body floating face down in the water, only he ain’t dead. He’s writhing in pain.
“The complex manager stands by the pool with a Mossberg shotgun held to his shoulder, unloading buckshot into this guy’s back. The manager can’t pump that baby fast enough. Empty shells skid across the wet tiles. The water is brilliant red. I mean, like, bright
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