Chapter 9

“THIS is Steve?” Elise whispered, slightly shocked. “Well I know this guy, he hands out fliers for the Liberals outside my subway station! That’s what you do, you’re a flier deliveryman?”

Steve locked the door and slowly looked over his shoulder. “Yes, I deliver fliers. Did you ever look at who was ON the flier?”

“Steve’s trying to run for Liberal MP,” Meagan said proudly.

“Ohhhhhhh right, THAT’S where I know you. Sorry man. But hey, thanks for rescuing us!”

“Well you’re not rescued yet. Can you climb? And why did you bring your luggage...?”

Elise turned to Meagan. “He talks too fast.”

Meagan ignored her and whispered, “It’s not my hairdryer! It’s a GOOD bag; it has enough food and water for us to survive a month, weapons, batteries, a radio, blankets, Scrabble...”

“Scrabble?” the other two echoed.

“You’ll thank me when you’re trying to remember whether or not there are three E’s in frightened instead of picturing Elise with a snowman army.”

“Right...” Steve said, “Anyway, can you climb?”

The girls nodded, and Steve continued with his plan while ushering them down a long series of corridors. He stopped at a massive set of double doors and brought his story of escaping the giraffes to a close. “So since I was working late, that’s why I was here when the attacks happened, but nobody else was.”

“And where’d you get that awesome crossbow?” Elise said. It struck her how easily she asked the question now that her world had seemingly changed forever, as if she were asking “Hey where’d you get those shoes?”

“I’ll show you. The office is...conveniently located.”

He parted the doors like Moses, and to the girls he might as well have been. Because behind the doors, as far as the eye could see, were guns.

“What IS this place?” Meagan said. Her eyes were practically out of their sockets. “This CAN’T be legal here...”

Steve laughed. “No no these aren’t real guns. They’re pellet guns, mostly for hunting small game. But the convention center is having an Outdoor Sports and Hunting Expo next week and they’ve been storing the stuff here, since we just moved in we had a lot of empty space.”

“I’m gonna need a bigger bag.”

Elise rushed forward like a kid from Scarborough at a Dollerama. She ran her fingertips over the large guns, and even though they were just elaborate BB guns their pellets packed enough of a punch to kill a tiny giraffe. She had seen firsthand how week their necks were, but these guns eliminated the necessity for complete accuracy. “This is better than Christmas...” she breathed.

“Yeah well, get shopping quickly. We have to keep moving. From what I’ve seen those little suckers find a way in, and they don’t stop until everybody is dead. So we’ll grab what we can carry from here and get the hell out. But pack light, because the only way out is over an eight foot tall fence.”

“Agreed,” Elise said. She hurried over to the baggage section to find a suitable backpack – and a travel water bottle for Milo.

Meagan nudged Steve. “So I couldn’t help but notice that window over there looks directly out to the ally you found us in. Did you...know it was me...when you came out there?”

“No.”

“Oh...”

Steve laughed and nudged her back. “Of course I knew it was you. Who else is that small but can still lift their arms over their head?”

“Hey! I resent—“

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JESUS H CHRIST!”

Meagan snapped her head up at the blood-curdling scream that came from the baggage section. “Oh my God, Elise!”

As she ran forward, Steve slipped his hands in his pockets. “Well I guess she’s met Holden.”