all god's orphans

Millie’s foot hadn’t lifted an inch for miles and the speedometer was pegged at 135 MPH. She stared ahead, unblinking into the distance and her knuckles were white on the steering wheel. She focused only on getting as far as possible from that place. It wasn’t until she happened to glance to the side and saw that Kite and Grey were frozen with fear that she started to back of the accelerator. As the SUV went below 100, Kite and Grey relaxed a bit. They weren’t used to this kind of speed, but compared to 135, even 90 now seemed like a leisurely pace.

Millie found an off ramp and barreled down it into a small town. She drove on the main road past the Sonic and towards the Wal-Mart. When she was satisfied that there was no one here, she stopped in the parking lot of a liquor store. She got out of the car and found the first blunt object she could find. Putting her whole being into it, she began to beat the windows of the liquor store. Over and over again, she wailed impotently at the glass as it refused to break. The more she hit it, the angrier she got that it wasn’t breaking, the harder she tried to hit it.

Finally, out of breath and sore from the effort, she tied a rope around the handles of the door and then to the front of her SUV. She floored it backwards and the twin doors flew from the hinges. Kite and Grey had no idea what they should say or do, so they simply watched in silence as Millie stalked into the shop and returned a short while later, her arms full of different colors and sizes of containers. She sat on the curb in front of the store and opened a bottle of whiskey. She took a pull, grimaced, and then threw the bottle as hard as she could at the side of the building, watching it burst like a satisfying cloud of glitter. She took another bottle, this one a blue fifth of vodka. The taste of this one was somewhat less disgusting than the whiskey, but she flung it into the side of the building anyway, wishing she could hear the sound of it shattering.

“What should we do?” Asked Kite. Grey had already explained to her what had happened, but the weight of it was not entirely apparent to Kite. There was something so foreign about the concept of rape to her, that she could scarcely understand what exactly they were trying to do to Millie when Grey found them. Millie sat scowling on the curb. Taking gulps from various bottles and then throwing them against the building.

Grey got out of the car with Kite behind him. He stood for a moment and then took a step towards Millie.

“Millie?” He said as quietly as possible. “Is there anything…” Before he could finish his question, she slung a bottle at him, missing his leg by just a few inches.

“Let’s give her some time.” Said Kite, pulling him by his arm. They walked away slowly as she opened a bottle of Absolut Orange. She took a deep gulp and then looked at the bottle. This one wasn’t so bad, she thought, and took another drink.

The liquor store was in the parking lot of a larger shopping center and it was littered with all manner of detritus. Kite and Grey had seen enough of that type of structure, so they crossed the street to a small gas station, if for no other reason than that they didn’t ever want to see another Wal-Mart as long as they lived.

The street between was wide, which seemed strange since there was no one here and even at its height, probably didn’t need five lanes of travel.

“I cannot imagine how she is feeling.” Said Kite as they crossed the deserted road.

“Neither can I, but I tell you the look in her eyes when they were on top of her is something I’ll never forget.”

“Where did they come from?” Kite was struggling to understand any aspect of what had happened, “Why would they want to hurt her?” Grey shook his head.

“Some people are like that, I suppose. They get pleasure out of hurting other people.” This concept above all others was unimaginable to Kite. Even in her short memory, she could not remember wanting to hurt anyone, let alone derive pleasure from it.

“Will she be all right?” She asked, hoping that the answer was yes.

“I don’t know.” Admitted Grey. “She is strong. I think she’ll be okay. But we have to be more careful in the future.”

“How?”

“I’m not sure.” Grey had spent the time since trying to work out how those men had found them. Had they been followed? How did they know which rooms to check? They could have seen the SUV outside, but why go in and bother people? Whenever he tried to put himself in their position, a dark part of his mind whispered to him that he already knew why. Something in him had a kinship with this type of person. Not that he as evil himself, but it suggested that he knew more than he might wish to know, or at least had known at one time. He started to wonder if it was a blessing that his memories were gone. If the world was filled with people like this, he would just as soon be rid of those memories.

Only when Kite smiled at him did he realize how foolish that idea was. There were good people in the world, too, and they were needed to fight the bad ones.

Inside the gas station, Kite and Grey picked out snacks to ease the twinge in their bellies. The adrenalin crash had left them starving and tired. Kite had discovered an all-consuming love of chocolate in the past few days. Any opportunity to feel the creamy texture and taste the indescribable flavor was something she could not pass up. She tore greedily into a candy bar and moaned in mini ecstasy. Grey laughed at her.

“Is it really that good?” He teased. She offered him a bite, but pulled it away at the last moment.

“Get your own.” She mumbled through a full mouth, grinning like a child. Grey smiled at her and she watched as his gaze shifted to something behind her and his smile disappeared, replaced by worry. “What is it?” She asked.

Millie was now leaning against the building, a nearly empty bottle of Absolut Orange Vodka between her legs and the glass of several other smashed bottles glittering nearby. She looked up at the sky and thought about her parents. Her home. Her brother. She wanted to run into his arms, even her parents and just be a little girl again. She wanted her big brother to scoop her up in his embrace and spin her around like he had always done until he left to join the Marines the day he turned eighteen. Her thoughts turned darker, realizing that he’d left so fast because of their parents.

She took another swig. She could never be a little girl again, she thought. She put her head back and closed her eyes, the world spinning when she did so. To stop it, she opened them and focused on the clouds. The deep blue of the sky was streaked with delicate, wispy white forms, making it look like a dome of blue marble. It reminded her of pictures she had seen of Italian cathedrals. Places she would probably never see. Melancholy swept through her and single tear ran down her cheek before she wiped it away in anger. Only little girls cry and if she couldn’t be a little girl, then she sure as Hell wasn’t going to cry.

She looked up to see Kite and Grey walking towards her. She wondered why they were leaning so far to one side before she realized it was her head that was tilted. Grey held a newspaper in front of her face. She could read his lips over the top of the front page.

“Millie what does this mean?” She looked at the image. It showed the earth with a badly Photoshopped asteroid slamming into it. The words were fuzzy and hard to read. She took another orange flavored sip. This was boring. Grey fetched her speech device from the front seat of the vehicle and handed it to her. “Please Millie.” She didn’t want to talk right now, but it seemed rude to say that to the person who had stopped her rapists. Even as drunk as she was, her hands moved on muscle memory and she could type pretty quickly without looking at the keyboard.

“I’m a virgin.” Said the robot. “Probably going to die a virgin now. Not many good guys around these days.” Grey was exasperated, but Kite grabbed his arm.

“Let her say what she needs.” Said Kite.

“What I need to say,” Continued Millie. “Is that I think it’s really unfair that I’m going to die alone and a virgin. That’s unfair.” Her face was more animated than it usually was and they could imagine the emotion behind these words, painted as it was by her expressions. “My parents never let me date boys. They barely let me out of the house. They always talked about the end of the world and death and Jesus coming back. I always thought it was bullshit. Looks like they were right. Look over there.” She indicated the Wal-Mart parking lot. “Do you see all that trash? It means the Army came through here recruiting civilians. Most of them are morons, too. They only survived because they’ve been praying for the end of the world. I will bet you anything you want, that the Wal-Mart is empty but they didn’t touch the liquor store. Fucking hypocrites. Here’s a joke. Why do you always take two Baptists with you when you go fishing.” Grey and Kite simply stared. Millie sighed in frustration. “You have to say why.”

“Why?” Asked Kite with a smile.

“Because if you only take one they will drink all of your beer. Ha. Ha. Ha.” Kite smiled but Grey was just confused. “Do you get it? It means they are hypocrites.” Grey chuckled politely. He held up the paper again.

“What does this mean, Millie? Please tell us.”

“It means my parents were right. The world is ending and it is full of shitty people.” Tears welled up in her eyes as Kite knelt before her. She took Millie’s hand in her own.

“There are still good people, too, Millie.” She squeezed and tears streamed down Millie’s face. She pulled Kite down to her and crushed her into a tight embrace. Grey stood back. He didn’t know how to react to this so he let Kite handle it. Sobs racked Millie’s frail body as she unloaded her fears and anger onto Kite’s shoulder. After a moment she released Kite who sat beside her against the building.

“I am scared of dying, Kite. I don’t want to be alone.” She finally typed. Kite had not let go of her hand.

“You will not.” She promised. “As long as I live you will have a friend with you.” Kite smiled and Millie felt a relief she had not known since this whole thing started. They embraced again, this time as close as two people can be. Allies against the darkness.

In the distance, Grey could hear the sound of what he assumed were vehicles. After this morning he was not thrilled to meet anyone new.

“We should find somewhere safe.” He said. “I think I hear someone coming.” Millie struggled to her feet and leaned heavily against the wall. She handed him the keys to the SUV.

“You will have to drive.” She told him. He was perplexed.

“I don’t know how to drive.” Millie felt stupid.

“Oh yeah.” She typed clumsily. “I forgot.” She took a moment to look around. “Well I guess I don’t have to worry about crashing into someone or getting pulled over. Let’s go.” They helped her into the driver’s seat and climbed in beside her. Millie started the car and put it in drive. It lurched forward towards the liquor store, stopping just inches from hitting one of the brick columns framing the door. She took a moment and typed on her keyboard.

“Oops.” She put it in reverse and started backwards, forgetting that the doors of the liquor store were still tied to her bumper. As they bounced over the concrete curb, they yanked the car to a temporary stop. She laughed at herself when she realized what had happened. “Oops again.” She typed before getting out and untying the rope. Grey could now hear the sound of engines and they were getting closer. He hopped out and hurriedly untied the rope.

“We have to go, Millie.” She winked, gave him the thumbs up, and then saluted him for good measure. This time, she made it onto the road while nearly managing to avoid two shrubs and another concrete curb. Luckily, the large vehicle simply chewed them up and spit them out. She drove down the road in a more or less straight line looking for a place to stop and hide from whatever was coming.

Millie brought the SUV to a shaky stop in a grocery store parking lot merely a mile from where they had started. Grey was relieved she hadn’t smashed into anything, but he wasn’t convinced this was much better. There were other cars here, which offered them some form of cover. Millie had jerked the car to a stop with little regard to the white lines painted on the ground, shut off the engine, and then fell asleep. From where they were, Grey could see the main road running beside the grocery store and he kept his gaze trained on it.

Millie was snoring slightly, her head leaned back and her mouth agape. Kite had moved to the backseat and was sitting low so no one would see them.

“I hope she will be all right.” Said Kite. The scent of the whiskey had stirred reveries deep within Grey.

“She’ll be fine.” Kite wasn’t so sure. Grey strained his ears to listen for that noise again, but it had gone for the moment. He didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. On the one hand, he wanted to know what it was. He didn’t want to live in fear of something he couldn’t see, but on the other hand, not seeing it meant it wasn’t coming this way. Something told him that he was going to run into whatever it was sooner or later and he preferred to get it over with.

“You should rest.” He said to Kite.

“I’m not tired.” She replied. Grey glanced over at her and raised his eyebrow. She certainly looked exhausted.

“What?” She asked, smiling. “What is it?” He never got tired of the way she talked.

“Nothing.” He answered, smiling back at her. He felt instantly better whenever she smiled at him and she felt the same. Though she knew there were bad people and bad things out there in the world, as long as they had each other to lean on, they could face it. Kite had understood perfectly what Millie meant when she said she didn’t want to be alone. This was a scary place and it helped to have a hand to hold. Kite reached out from the backseat and offered her hand, which Grey took.

“I am glad I found you.” She told him. “Both of you.” As Grey was looking back at her, he saw a caravan of cars drive past on the main road.

“Shit!” He hissed. “Get down.” How had he not heard them? They had seemed so loud in the distance. Three of them drove past in a furious hurry, as though they had a destination and were driving towards it, Hell bent for leather.