'Cut the attitude,' Lee said.
Heather grinned.
'You shut up,' Barbara told her.
'Me?' Heather asked, all innocence. 'What did I say?'
'It's your fault we're here in the first place, you and that damn cat.'
'Leave her alone,' Lee said.
And Heather glowed as if she'd been blessed. Lee turned toward the window and parted the curtains. Barbara bared her teeth at Heather. Heather smirked at her.
'What is the plan?' Pete asked.
'We wait and see,' Lee said, peering out the window. If we're lucky, the marauders bypass us. There's a whole town out there. They can't hit everyplace.'
'What if they do show up here?'
'My first responsibility is to my tenants.'
'Tenants?'
'I have people in four of the units.'
'Right now?' Pete asked.
'You've got it. I made the rounds after the quake. Minimal damage, and no casualties. Most of my tenants had already left for work. A few are away on trips. But I've people in those four units, like said, and I have to protect them.'
'I thought you weren't going to take anybody on,' Barbara reminded him.
He didn't bother to look around at her. 'That only means I'm not planning an offensive operation. It doesn't rule out defensive action.'
'Oh.'
'Maybe you think we should hunker down and hide while they slaughter my tenants.'
'I don't think that,' Barbara protested.
'I don't see why we should stick around, though,' Pete said 'We aren't gonna be of much help if we don't have guns. I mean our idea was to lay low. But if you're planning to shoot them maybe we oughta try and get away while we've still chance.'
'Fine with me,' Lee said.
Pete leaned closer to Barbara and said in a soft voice, 'What do you think? We could take off out the back and make a run down the alley.'
'Not me,' Heather said.
Pete's gaze stayed on Barbara. 'Whatever. We don't have to let that stop us.'
'Leave without her?'
'Go ahead,' Heather told them. 'I'm not going out there, not unless Lee makes me.'
'You're free to stay here,' Lee told her. 'It's your call.’
'Are you sure? That's so sweet of you. But are you sure you wouldn't mind? I don't want to get in your way, or anything.'
Barbara looked at her.
Obsequious, is that the right word?
Or fawning?
Or does she suddenly adore this guy?
Nah. She's gotta be faking it. Laying it on thick, so he won't toss her out. Sickening, Barbara thought. The girl's pathetic.
'Stay,' Lee said. 'Or leave. Either way is fine with me. I'd think you might want to go with your friends, though.'
'Are you kidding? That mob's out there! I don't wanta get gang-raped and torn apart. Anyhow, I'm just in the same driver's ed class with those two - it's not like they're my friends.' When she said that, she cast a hurt look at Pete. As if he'd betrayed her.
What does she know? Barbara suddenly wondered. Maybe Lee isn't the only one who was spying on us. No, she thought. Heather didn't see us, she's just mad because we didn't go with her to chase the cat.
'Even if we aren't friends,' Barbara said, 'we oughta stick together.'
'I don't see why.'
'How will you get home?' Pete asked.
Heather's shoulders bobbed up and down. 'I don't care. It doesn't matter.'
'Getting home,' Lee said, 'shouldn't be anybody's priority at this point. Number one priority is survival.'
'Yeah,' Pete said. 'I agree.' He turned again to Barbara 'That's why I think we should get out of here. With or without Heather. I think we'll stand a better chance if we're on the run. I mean, if anything goes down, Lee's planning a shootout. It'll be like the OK Corral around here.'
Barbara nodded. 'I'm with you.' She glanced at the others. Lee was peering out the window again. Heather met her eyes, and had a strange, sly smile. 'You're sure you want to stay here?' Barbara asked her.
'Why would I wanta go anywhere with you two?'
'Can't imagine,' Barbara said.
'I'll take my chances here, thanks anyway.’
'Okay.'
Still holding her blouse shut with her left Barbara shoved at the floor with her right as she drew up her legs and started to stand up. 'So,' she said, 'I guess we'll be going.'
'You sure you don't want to change your mind?' Pete asked Heather. 'Once we're gone, it'll be a little too late.’
'Too late for you, you mean.'
They were almost to the door when the sound of a clank hit Barbara like a blow to the heart. She gasped. Pete froze. Heather snapped her head toward Lee. Lee's back stiffened.
'One of the gates?' Heather whispered.
Of course it's one of the gates, you idiot. They're here. They're down by the pool. One eye at the gap between the curtains, Lee raised an open hand.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
My God, Barbara thought, what if we'd gotten to the door a few seconds sooner? We'd be out on the balcony in plain sight, and… After a few moments, Lee reached behind his back and tugged the pistol out of his jeans.
'Oh, man,' Pete murmured. 'Who's out there?' Barbara asked. 'Visitor,' Lee whispered. 'Just one?' Barbara asked. 'So far.'
'What's he doing?'
'Shhh.'
Like Lee's little assistant, Heather frowned at Barbara and pressed a finger to her lips. Barbara listened hard for sounds from the intruder. He's sure being quiet down there. She? No, Barbara thought. Can't be a woman - Lee wouldn't have pulled his gun. 'Heather?'
Not a shout, but a soft call as if the person below knew how well his voice would carry to the surrounding apartments- knew, and wanted to make no more noise than that.
'Heather?' he called again.
The voice sounded familiar.
'My God. Where'd he come from?'
'Earl?' Heather asked. She looked stricken. 'What's he doing here?'
'He's calling your name,' Barbara said in a hushed voice.
'I didn't see him.'
'He saw you,' Pete said. 'Must've.'
'He's a jerk,' Barbara said.
'He was in the driver's ed class with us,' Pete said.
'He's kind of a trouble-maker.'
'Heather?' Earl called again. 'Where are you?'
'Right after the quake,' Pete said, 'he tried to steal a guy's car. We had a big fight about it, and we… sort of knocked him out cold and left him behind.'
'No kidding,' Lee said, still gazing out.
'Are you here?' Earl called. 'Come on, guys! I'm not gonna hurt anybody, promise. I just… don't like it out here by myself. There's scary shit going on. Okay? Can you hear me? Hey, I'm sorry I screwed up back there, okay? I wanta get back together with you. Please!'
Lee looked over his shoulder at Pete and Barbara. 'I don't like this. He'll give us away. Let's bring him in.'
'You sure you want to do that?' Barbara asked.
'I don't want him down there yelling, that's for sure. Pete, tell him to come up.'
'If you say so.’
'Do it.'
Pete slipped past Barbara, unfastened the deadbolt, and pulled the door open. He stepped over the threshold. Raising an arm, he called out quietly, 'Up here, Earl. Make it quick.'
'Hey hey, Pizzaria! My bud!’
'Quiet! Jeez!'
'Hey, hey, don't have a cow. Anybody else around here?’
'Don't ask so many questions. Just hurry up.'
'I'm coming, I'm coming. Hey, don't rush me. I've been in better shape, you know. It's not every day I get the crap beat out of me.'
Barbara heard Earl start pounding his way up the stairs. 'You got Banner with you?’
'She's here.'
'Good, good. Didn't see her. Or you either. Thought maybe something might've happened. Which'd be a real shame. Wouldn't want nothing happening to my old pals. You miss me?'
'Sure.'
'How'd you get yourselves a place?' Earl asked. From the sound of his voice, he had reached the balcony. 'Rent it? 'Cause knowing how fucking moral you and Banner are, you sure as hell didn't bust in.'
Not bothering to answer, Pete stepped backward out of the doorway. A moment later, Earl strolled in. He grinned at Barbara. She felt her mouth drop open.
'Greetings and salutations, Banner-babes.'
'What happened to you?' she blurted.
'You oughta know.'
'We didn't do all that.'
The right side of Earl's face was puffy and smudged with dark bruises - damage, she supposed, that had been by herself and Pete. But the hair above his left ear was down flat with dry blood. They hadn't done that to him. Nor were they responsible for his change of clothes. She was not sure what he'd been wearing before, but not this: so large that it hung down almost to his knees, the blue slacks that looked as if they might go with the suit of an obese executive, and brightly polished black leather dress shoes. Someone, probably Earl, had torn off the sleeves of the shirt so that his arms were bare to the shoulders. The shirt was unbuttoned, too, showing sweaty skin with bruises and scratches. Earl's huge, bulky slacks were cinched in around his waist with a striped necktie. The cuffs were rolled up. He had bare ankles above the fancy shoes.
'Greetings, Heather,' he said. 'And who's this?'
'Lee Nolan,' Lee said. 'I'm the manager of this facility.’
'No kidding. Figured maybe you was Rambo.'
'He's not amused,' Barbara said.
Ignoring them, Lee looked at Pete. 'Anybody else out there?'
'I don't think so.'
'Check again, then shut the door.'
When the door was shut, Lee got to his feet and faced Earl. He held the pistol low by his side. 'Tell us what's goin on out there,' he said.
'What do you want to know?'
Heather spoke up first. 'How did you find us?'
'Just lucky, I guess. Heading for home, trying to stay out of trouble. And then I spotted you… You were like two blocks away. Knew it was you, though. You got yourself an unmistakable figure.'
Heather blushed. 'Thanks,' she murmured. 'Think that was a compliment?' The red of her face darkened. Looking pleased with himself, Earl turned his attention to the others. 'Anyhow, I yelled. thought she heard me, but she kept on going like she didn't. So then I chased after her, and saw her go through the gate down there.'
'What about the mob?' Lee asked. 'Huh?'
'Was that you yelling "Porky"?' Heather asked. 'Me, all right,' Earl said. 'You dirty…'
'Let's not get sidetracked, here,' Lee said. 'Heather reported that there's a group of marauders heading our way.'
'A what?'
'A wild mob,' Pete explained.
'Rampaging,' Barbara added. 'Killing people.'
'No kidding?' Earl asked.
'It wasn't exactly a mob,' Heather said. 'I mean, there weren't that many.'
'A dozen,' Lee reminded her. 'That's what you told us.’
'Well, it seemed like a dozen. Maybe it wasn't that many.' Earl shrugged and made a face like someone faking perplexity. 'A wild mob of killers, huh? Only maybe just a few, but on a rampage?'
'Pulling people out of cars,' Pete said.
'Heather saw them raping and killing women,' Barbara added.
Earl's face lit up. 'Raping, huh? And to think missed it, 'What did you see out there?' Lee asked. 'I didn't see nothing like that.'
'I did,' Heather insisted. 'And some of them chased me but I ditched 'em.'
'No kidding?' Earl asked. 'You sure about that? Looks to me like you was taking your sweet time, checking around under cars and stuff. What were you looking for?'
'A cat. But that was after those guys…'
'Hold it,' Lee broke in. 'I want to hear from Earl.'
Earl shrugged. 'I didn't spot any mob, that's for sure. Not around here. There was a whole bunch of looting over on Pico. A few fights and stuff, too. saw some people who'd gotten themselves pounded pretty good - hey, you're looking at one.'
'We didn't do that to you,' Barbara said.
'Like hell.'
'I punched you in the face a couple of time, same as you punched me.' She realized that she had pretty much forgot all about her injuries. Reminded now, she noticed that she had slight earache, probably from the punch in the jaw. She pressed her hand to her jaw. Not much swelling there. But the bulging skin over her cheekbone felt warm and tight.
'Be grateful, Banner,' Earl said. 'I improved on your looks.'
'Shut up,' Pete said.
'Screw you.'
'We didn't do that to your head,' Barbara told him. 'Not where your hair's all bloody there. That wasn't us. Maybe we should've, but we didn't.'
'I suppose you didn't steal my stuff, either.'
'We didn't steal anything. All we did was drag you out of the street so you wouldn't get run over.'
'Yeah, sure. What you did is strip me.'
'Did not.'
'We didn't do anything like that,' Pete said.
'Yeah, right.'
Heather looked as if she had made an amazing recovery from her embarrassment. She was beaming. 'Somebody took your clothes?'
'Yeah, and I know who.'
'Not us,' Heather said. 'You've gotta be kidding. You pissed your jeans.'
'Yeah, right.'
'You did,' Barbara confirmed, and found herself smiling. 'Bull.'
'It's true,' Pete said.
'That's three against one,' Heather pointed out. 'And you were out cold, so how can you say you didn't. Your little piggie went, "Wee wee wee wee."''Up yours.'
'Let's everyone knock it off,' Lee said.
'The thing of it is,' Barbara persisted, 'it wasn't us who did that to your head or stole your clothes. Somebody else must've come along and done it after we were gone.’
'What did they take?' Pete asked. 'What do you think?’
'Everything?’
'Yeah.’
'Jeez.'
'They take your undies?' Heather asked.
'My what?'
'Your underpants.'
'Who wears 'em?'
'And he calls me a pig. At least wear I underpants.’
'They left you naked?' Barbara asked Earl.
'Yeah, so what?’
'What did you do?'
'What do you mean, what'd I do? I wandered around my birthday suit till I got this stuff.' He fluttered his hand against the front of his shirt. 'Wasn't any picnic finding new duds, tell you that. It's not like people are real keen to part with what they're wearing, and I couldn't find me a store that hadn't already gotten picked clean.'
'Let me guess,' Barbara said, 'you mugged a fat manager.'
'I don't know what he was. And I didn't mug him. He was already dead when found him.'
'Dead?' Barbara asked, wrinkling her nose.
'Yeah, but I didn't do it.’
'I'm sure,' Heather said.
'Hey, I don't go around killing people for their pants.'
'This man you took the clothes from,' Lee said, 'Did he look like he'd been assaulted?'
'Your mob didn't get him, if that's what you're at.'
'It's not my mob.'
'It's Heather's mob,' Barbara put in.
'My man was all in one piece. I mean, I don't think he was even cut. He probably died from a heart attack. I'm surprised he still had his clothes, though. Every town has gotten itself stripped, from what I've seen. His billfold was gone, but they hadn't taken his clothes. I know why, too - the guy was an elephant. I had an awful…'
'Wait wait wait,' Lee said. 'What's this about stiffs? You saw corpses?'
'What do you think?'
'How many did you see?'
'I don't know. Hell, who counted?'
'How many?' Lee repeated.
'What do you think, I kept a scorecard? Aah. Let me think. Maybe thirty?' He wrinkled his nose. 'It was pretty awful. Even the babes. Fact is, the babes were the w
orst, you know…' Something went out of his voice. He frowned 'I thought it'd be sort of cool, seeing 'em all…their clothes off like that. The way it turned out, though, was…I don't know. It made me feel a little sick. The way they were dead. It didn't make me feel horny or anything, just sort of sick and depressed.' He suddenly seemed to cheer 'But hey, guess the good news is I'm not one of them.'
Lee didn't seem amused. 'These women you saw, did they look as if they'd been attacked?'
'Yeah. Attacked, all right. By falling buildings. Who knows, though? I don't know how they got killed. The men, I didn't go up and check 'em all, up close and personal. There were a couple I happened to notice with bullet holes, and one guy had a knife in him. But they were more like the exception. Mostly, they were sprawled around near places that'd gotten nailed by the quake. They were pretty messed up. Saw a lot of bashed heads. A lot of nasty cuts. One guy'd caught a big thing of glass right across his face. There was a gal, she didn't have any head at all.' He turned to Barbara and raised a corner of his mouth. 'Fact is, thought she might be you. You know, she was sort of the same general shape and stuff. Could've been you.'
'Sorry to disappoint you.'
'Hey, I'm glad she wasn't.'
'Sure.'
'Really.'
'So,' Lee said, 'you think most of these dead people were killed by the quake?'
'Most of 'em, yeah.'
'And nearly all of them had been stripped?’
'Yeah, that's how come I had such a tough time finding myself something to wear. Fuckin' Los Angeles. The damn city's nothing but scavengers. Just look around garbage day. I didn't catch any of 'em in the act, but I bet there's gotta be all these creeps sneaking around taking what they can get off the dead people. Like they're looting stiffs instead of stores. Maybe that's what happened to me,' he said. 'Took me for a goner.'
'From the look of your head,' Barbara said, 'they tried to help make you one.'
'You guys shouldn't've left me there like that.'
'You're the one who started it.'
'I was only just trying to grab us a car. If you hadn't messed it up, we'd all be home by now.'
'You can't go around steal…'
'Let's not start quarreling again,' Lee said. 'It sounds like the situation outside hasn't deteriorated quite as much as I thought.'
'I saw what I saw,' Heather said. 'I'm not a liar.'
'Nobody's calling you a liar,' Lee said.