Текст книги "Ravenous"
Автор книги: Erika Stevens
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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 14 страниц)
Opening the door just a sliver, I stuck my eye against the crack as I struggled to see anything. My ears strained as I searched for noise. I felt brave enough, and secure enough, to open the door a little further before slipping completely out of the cellar. Sunlight filtered through the blinds, another day had risen; the world still turned, and I was still in hell.
The first thing I looked for was the bathroom, which I found in a small room behind the counter. I was horrified by the blood that streaked my face. My blue eyes were shadowed by dark circles; my long hair was a tangled mess I was half afraid I would have to cut off. There was a dark bruise forming on one side of my face, it took up most of my cheek. Beneath the bruise was a jagged slice about three inches long. I touched it tenderly, wincing as pain lanced through the area where the creature had struck me.
I turned the water on, and to the best of my ability, scrubbed the blood from my face and arms before ducking my head to wash as much of the blood out of my hair as I could. The water ran red and the sink was a mess by the time I was done. Fresh nausea turned through my stomach as I washed the blood splatters from the basin. I was able to keep from throwing up this time though.
I felt marginally better afterwards, but not much. I longed for the backpacks full of toothpaste and clothes that had been abandoned at my house. I longed for a hairbrush and conditioner as I struggled to unknot the tangles with my fingers. It took awhile, and I ripped out a lot of hair in the process, but I finally managed to get most of it unknotted.
Sighing softly, I made my way to the front of the store. The blinds were still drawn, but the sun crept in around the edges of them. I inhaled deeply, taking a moment of joy in its soothing warmth, and reassuring presence. All hell had broken lose, the world continued to turn, some form of life would go on. Even if it wasn’t human.
My hand trembled as I reached forward and pulled one of the slats down. I peered cautiously out at the street. It was eerily quiet out there. Even eerier were the things left behind. Bicycles, papers, coffee cups, wallets, purses, and even shoes were scattered about the street, with other possessions, like discarded causalities of war. There were no bodies out there though, there were no people left at all.
I shuddered as I stared at the desolate scene. It almost seemed as if it might be safe to go outside again. I knew it wasn’t. I may not be able to see them right now, but they were out there. Somewhere. But we couldn’t stay here forever either. We would eventually have to move, they would find us if we didn’t.
Or maybe they wouldn’t…
“Bethany.” I jumped slightly at the hissed whisper. Releasing the blind I turned as Cade stepped out of the cellar. His eyes narrowed in displeasure, his full lips compressed into a tight line. The blood that had coated him last night was gone, and now that I thought of it, I realized that they had all been cleaner than me. They must have washed themselves after I had passed out last night. “What are you doing?”
“All of the people are gone.”
“If you don’t take better care of yourself you’ll be gone too,” he muttered so quietly that I almost didn’t catch it all.
“I’ve been taking care of myself for awhile now,” I retorted, trying hard not to lose my patience. I had thought that he was different than Bret, that he had a little more confidence in me. Apparently I was wrong.
His midnight eyes raked me; his dark eyebrows drew sharply together. Then, his face relaxed slightly and a small smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. It was so very rare to see him smile that I had forgotten how sweet and melting it could be. He moved slowly toward me. Reaching behind me he pulled the blind apart to peer outside. My heart kicked up a beat; I could feel the blood rushing through my ears as it tripped eagerly along. His arm was near my head, the heat of his body pressed against me as he took a step closer.
His gaze came slowly back to me as he released the blind. I stared silently up at him, hoping that he wouldn’t kiss me again. Praying that he would. “I know you can take care of yourself, but wandering around alone isn’t safe. For anyone.”
I swallowed heavily and managed a nod. “I didn’t want to be in that room.”
“I know.”
“Where did you get the guns?”
Those onyx eyes were on me again, gleaming beautifully in the dim light. “I’ve been collecting them for awhile now.”
I swallowed heavily, nodding slowly. I had hated driving in cars for a long time after my father was killed; it had been torture for me. Cade‘s parents had been killed in a home invasion, it seemed he had been trying to make sure that nothing like that ever happened again. I had dealt with my fear of cars by exposing myself to short rides that became gradually longer over time. I had never grown completely comfortable with them, but at least I was able to stay in them for a half an hour or so now. Cade had dealt with his fear by stockpiling guns.
“How did you get them?”
His mouth quirked slightly. “You can get anything you want if you have enough money, and know the right people.”
“And you know the right people?” I retorted, slightly annoyed by his offhanded manner.
“Yes. Or at least I did.”
I nodded slowly, of course he would. That’s who he was after all. He had always been mysterious, always been whispered about. Rumors of dangerous and illegal activities ran rampant about him, everyone had eagerly gossiped about what they thought he was up to. Apparently at least some of it had been true.
“But the aliens…”
“Can’t take what they can’t find.”
“That’s why you had to go back to your house.”
“Yes.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, what to do. I was out of words and he was so tantalizingly close to me. I wanted him to kiss me, wanted him to do something, but I could hear Bret’s words echoing in my ears. He loved me, and Cade was a puzzle that I didn’t understand. I was completely confused and I didn’t know how to figure it all out.
And then Cade was closer to me, over me. He was all that I could see or think about. His hand was on my cheek, in my wet hair. I felt my mouth part involuntarily. My head was telling me that this was a bad idea, that this was wrong. My heart didn’t care. All I wanted was to feel his soft, wonderful lips again. His scent engulfed me. It was sharper than it had been yesterday, his own odor more potent, his cologne not as strong, but it was still wonderful. A creak on the stairs caused him to pull swiftly away. Disappointment filled me, I felt unsatisfied, lost. I wanted more.
The door opened and Bret stepped out from the cellar, he glanced questioningly at Cade before focusing his attention on me. “Are you ok?”
I smiled wanly at him as I nodded slowly. “Fine.”
His gaze traveled slowly back to Cade before returning to the window. “Are they out there?”
“Not right now,” Cade responded. “But they will be.”
“They’ll come in here.”
“Yes.”
I shuddered, my hands dug into my arms as I clung to them. “We need to figure out a plan then.”
Cade said nothing. What was there to say? I turned back to him, feeling lost and hopeless. It was not Cade that came forward to console me though, but Bret. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me tight against his chest. Though there wasn’t a whole lot of excitement in his arms, there was a sense of comfort and rightness that was undeniable. Bret loved me, I loved him. Maybe I didn’t love him the same way that he loved me, but it was still love. Or maybe I did love him in the same way, and this strange attraction toward Cade was just clouding my judgment.
Either way, I didn’t have the time to figure it all out and wasn’t entirely sure that I cared to. There were far more important things to worry about now. “Where are your parents?” I inquired softly, tilting my head back to look up at him.
His jaw clenched, his eyes became sad as he shook his head. “My father is one of them. I thought…” He swallowed heavily and cleared his throat. “I thought we’d be able to get back to him after we checked on you and Abby. I didn’t know; I would have brought him.”
I rested a comforting hand over his, hating the anguish that radiated from him. I could already sense his bright light growing dimmer and I hated it. “It’s not your fault,” I assured him.
He nodded. “My mother wasn’t home, but I assume that she is probably like them also. It seems most people are.” He said the words, but there was hope still within his gaze. “I wish I’d left a note or something just in case, I really thought we’d be able to make it back.”
There was nothing I could say to that, no reassurances I could give him. “The others are awake, we should go back down,” Cade said softly.
I stiffened as Bret tried to lead me toward the stairs. Like a stubborn child I could feel my heels digging into the floor in an attempt to stop his forward momentum. “Wait.” He stopped, frowning as he looked down at me. His clear green eyes were narrowed with worry. “We should stay up here, we’re trapped down there.”
“We’re trapped up here too. They might not be able to find us down there, and you need to eat.”
“We won’t know if they come in and we’re down there!” I protested hotly. I hated the unreasonable panic already beginning to build in my chest at the mere thought of going down there again. I cursed this weakness, and cursed my susceptibility to it.
“It will be fine Bethany, we’ll leave the door to the room open so we can hear them if they come in.”
I was frantic, desperate not to return to those awful, dark depths, but there was little I could do about that. I couldn’t stay up here, it was too risky, and I was starving. I also didn’t want anyone else to know about my weakness. Certainly not Bret, he already thought I was fragile, already thought I was someone that always needed protecting. Even when I didn’t.
I tried to choke back my panic, but there was little strength and courage left to draw upon. Those resources seemed to be quickly drying up. I clung to my pride as I relented enough to be pulled back down the stairs. I didn’t look back at Cade, I couldn’t. I didn’t want to see the displeasure over being interrupted, or the pity I was certain was burning within those dark eyes. He knew, no matter how hard I tried to hide it, he knew about my terror and he pitied me for it. I kept my attention focused on my feet; I concentrated on simply breathing in and out as Cade closed the door behind us.
We stepped off the steps and into the darkness. Someone had been waiting for us as the light immediately clicked on at the bottom. Aiden stood beneath the bulb, string in hand as he surveyed the three of us. His clear mahogany eyes, so similar to Abby’s, were still swollen with sleep, but he was alert.
“What’s going on up there?” he asked softly.
“It’s quiet, for now,” Cade responded.
Aiden nodded, his hand slid off the string. The door to the secret room creaked open and Abby poked her head out. “Can we eat now?”
“I told them to wait until everyone was here,” Aiden explained. “Yes.”
Abby ducked back into the room, she reemerged with the bag of food. My stomach felt empty, I needed nourishment, but my appetite was gone. “Is there any change in them?” I inquired softly about Peter and our mom.
“No.”
Abby handed me a thing of peanut butter crackers, I could only stare dumbly at it. “Will they ever wake up?” she asked softly.
My gaze drifted toward Cade as thoughts of the man from the street flashed through my mind. He had woken up. He had come back to life, either because the pain had been so excruciating, or because there was something about those suckers that reawakened their victims. Or maybe it was the aliens themselves that somehow triggered a reawakening in their victims. Maybe the aliens enjoyed watching people struggle, and suffer, before they died such an awful death.
I shuddered, the crackers crunched in my clenched hand. “Bethany,” Abby scolded lightly.
“We saw one wake up,” Cade said slowly.
“When? What? How?” Jenna squeaked in surprise.
Cade held my gaze for a long moment, but I wasn’t going to explain about the man’s reawakening. I couldn’t. He turned away from me. He told them what we had seen, and how the man had come back to life. And then he told about the man’s death.
The silence that followed his statement was thick and heavy. No one made a sound, no one moved, I was fairly certain that no one even breathed. “So extreme pain, or those creatures, maybe even the aliens themselves, can wake people up.”
“It could have just been that one man that was able to wake up again,” Bret pointed out.
I tossed the crushed crackers back to Abby. We could not afford to waste any food, no matter how destroyed it was, and I was not going to eat it. “Well how do we find out which one it is?” Jenna asked quietly.
The answer was obvious; no one wanted to say it. “The old man…” Aiden’s voice trailed off when Cade stiffened, bristling slightly.
“What would we do to him?” Abby asked breathlessly.
A muscle in Cade’s cheek jumped but he didn’t offer any protest. “I don’t know,” Bret responded.
“ Whowould do it?”
No one answered that time. I shuddered; nausea was boiling back through me. We would have to deliberately hurt Peter, deliberately be cruel to him in order to see if he would come back to life. The intentions were good, but carrying them out would not be. I also knew who would be the one to do it.
Cade would not look at me now, he stared into the darkness of the cellar, his jaw clenched tight. I wanted to tell him that it didn’t have to be him, but I knew that it would do me little good. And I could not lie to Cade, I could not offer him false words; everything inside of me was against doing such a thing.
“I won’t be long,” he said softly.
I took a step toward him, hating the haunted look on his face and the pinched set of his mouth, but he had already disappeared into the room. Bret tried to stop me as I turned away, but I shrugged his hands off. Biting on my bottom lip I struggled to keep my tears from spilling over. I didn’t hear anything from the room, I didn’t know what Cade was doing to him, but the smell of burnt hair suddenly drifted toward me.
I cringed, my hands dug into my arms to the point of bruising. I did not hear a yelp of pain, or a burst of motion like the man outside had shown. My heart sank. I didn’t turn back around when Cade reemerged, I was not disgusted with him; I was disgusted with all of us. He had possessed the strength to do what none of us had been capable of.
And he hated himself for it.
“Nothing.”
The simple word was like a dagger to my chest. What had we done? What had we stood by and allowed to happen?
What were we goingto do?
“How long can they stay like that before they die?” No one answered Abby’s question. No one knew. “They can’t stay like that for long, can they? I mean they have to eat, they have to drink; they have to go to the bathroomfor crying out loud! Don’t they?”
Still no one responded to her. “Don’t they?” she demanded.
“We don’t know Abby,” Aiden said gently.
A soft sob escaped Abby. I didn’t know the answers to her questions either, but I could at least give her some sense of comfort. I moved to my little sister, wrapping my arms around her as I took comfort in her warm body, and small arms. I still had Abby, I still had Aiden. I was more fortunate than most.
Far more fortunate.
I could not feel pity for myself; I could not cower in here, trapped and cornered. We had to survive, somehow. Abbyhad to survive, no matter what happened.
“What are we going to do?” Jenna asked her voice softer and smaller than usual.
“Not stay here,” I answered.
“Bethany, how are we going to get mom somewhere else?” Abby whispered fearfully.
It was Cade I looked toward, but it was Aiden that answered. “We don’t Abigail.”
I closed my eyes, wincing as pain lanced through me. Agony tore at my heart, shredding it, destroying it, turning me into something that I wasn’t. I wasn’t cold, I wasn’t uncaring, but I could feel something creeping over me, through me, that left me frozen. Not even Cade’s dark eyes could melt the iceberg taking over me.
“No!” Abby nearly screeched. I slammed my hand over her mouth, cringing as my gaze darted to the door at the top of the stairs. We all stood motionless, breathless as we waited to see if hell would descend upon us. I moved my hand slowly away from her mouth when it appeared that we were still safe. “No!” Abby hissed.
I clung tighter to her, but I barely felt her anymore, not through the ice encasing me. Aiden sighed softly, Jenna looked terrified, and Bret would not meet my gaze, only Cade stared at me head on. His eyes burned with the intense desire to make me understand, to make me see, but I already understood, I alreadysaw. I just didn’t like what I saw.
We couldn’t stay here.
It would only slow us down to bring her with us.
Or maybe we couldstay here. Maybe this would all blow over. We had food; we had water, a bathroom, and weapons. We had a secure hiding place; we could make a stand for awhile. It may even be better if we stayed. Why did everyone want to leave then, including me? Well, I wanted to leave because I hated to be trapped anywhere. For my mom though, I knew I could suck this up, I could stay in that room for however long I needed to.
We could all stay here. It would be fine, they wouldn’t find us, we would be safe until someone saved us, and of course someone would save us. We still had military, or at least I thought we still had a military, at the very least some military personnel. We had been out of touch for so long; shut off for so long, that I wasn’t sure we had a military anymore. For all I knew the aliens had taken them out first. In fact, they probably had been the first target, even ahead of the government.
Terror curdled inside of me. Although every part of me screamed against leaving our mother in that tiny room, a place I never wanted to return to myself, I wasn’t sure there was anything else that we could do. There had to still be some members of the military left, but I doubted there were enough of them to launch much of an attack. More than half, if not almost all of them, were probably frozen. Vehicles may still work, but no one could drive them without being spotted instantly amongst the deadened streets. And that was if they even didwork anymore. No one, that I knew, had tried to drive a car in weeks. Never mind planes and helicopters, or tanks. There was no way to know if we could even attempt to mount any sort of defense against these monsters.
There was no one coming to help us, no one out there to rescue us. The realization was not slow in coming. Yes, it had taken me a while to actually get to that train of thought because I hadn’t had time to go there yet, but the realization slammed me with sudden, horrifying insight. It hit me hard, and it hit me instantly. I was suddenly cold, numb with horror, choked with an agonizing pain, and yet oddly reserved. Oddly accepting of the unraveling course of our fates.
There was no one coming. There was no help out there for us anymore.
And we could not stay. To hole up in here and cower was to admit defeat. To hole up in here and cower, was to die. With no rescue coming the food would run out, the water would dry up. Maybe, just maybe, the aliens would move on from here before all of that happened, but there was no guarantee of that. They could stay out there forever, waiting for us to emerge like a cat looking to pounce upon a mouse slipping from a hole. We could stay here for a little bit, but eventually we would have to leave. We would haveto.
And when the time came, we would not be able to take our mother with us.
Maybe we could stay for a bit, maybe we could wait, and we could hope, but eventually reality would catch up with us. It was better to face it now, rather than wait and see. It would be better if we broke free while the aliens were distracted with the remaining people, than to wait for them to come to us. Better to leave here before they came inside and discovered us.
“Oh,” I said softly.
“Bethy…”
I shook my head, holding up my hand to stop Aiden’s words. I could not hear them, not right now. I understood them, but I could not hear them spoken aloud. Bret rested his hand on my shoulder; I did not shrug him off. He was a good man, strong, and I needed his comfort and strength right now. “We’ll stay today,” Cade said softly.
“No, we have to wait a few more days,” Abby protested.
“They haven’t reached this part of town yet, the longer we wait the more likely they are to come here. No matter how many of them there are, it will still take them awhile to go through all of the houses. We need to get out of here before they reach us, and we need to leave under cover of darkness.”
“You don’t even know if they are going through all of the houses and buildings!”
“What do you think they were doing last night at home?” Aiden asked gently. My mind was spinning, running through everything I did, and didn’t, know. Running through what they were saying, understanding that it was true, and it was right, but I still could not wrap my heart around it. Abby would have to go on, I knew that. Aiden would take care of her, protect her with his life. “We have to go light, carry as little as possible. It will be hard at night, but the darkness will offer us cover.”
“Wait,” Abby said softly, her words choked and sad. “We can’t.”
“It will be ok Abby,” I assured her, hugging her gently. “It will be ok, you’ll see.”
“But mom, we can’t leave her here, all alone. We can’t.”
“We won’t,” I promised.
“Bethy,” Bret said softly.
I shook my head, hugged my sister tight again and released her. It would be ok I told myself, knowing full well that I lied.
CHAPTER 9
Night came faster than I had expected. It wasn’t until I crept back upstairs to peer out the window that I realized it wasn’t true nightfall. The larger ship had moved; it was above us now, blocking out the light of the sun. The sun’s rays peeked around it, illuminating its dark color, reflecting brightly off of it, but the day was nearly dark now. I turned away from the window, hating the sight of that awful thing.
“We should get moving soon,” Bret said softly.
I said nothing, there was nothing to say. The bag of food was by the backdoor. Abby was crying silently, tears rolled down her youthful cheeks. Aiden couldn’t bring himself to look at either of us, I knew what he was thinking, but it wasn’t going to happen. He was the stronger one of us; he would have to be the one that stayed with Abby.
“I’m not going.”
I turned toward Cade, my eyes widening as he uttered the words. Those were supposed to be mywords; that was what I was supposed to be saying, not him. He was not going to be the one who stayed. “No.”
“It’s not going to be you Bethy.” I gaped at Cade; his eyes were hard, distant. His jaw was clenched tight. “No matter what you may think.”
“You don’t know what I think!” I retorted sharply, my hands fisting at my sides.
“Yes, I do, and it is notgoing to be you.”
“That is our mother!” I snapped.
“Peter has been very kind to me, I will not leave him.”
“Then I’ll stay with you.”
“No.”
“No!” I nearly screeched. “You can’t tell meno.” I was rapidly losing control, rapidly spinning toward panic and chaos. I took a deep breath, managing to gain a little more control of myself before I continued to speak. “You can’t make my choices for me.”
“Bethany,” Abby whimpered.
I glanced sharply at her, breathing rapidly as I struggled to contain my fear and anger. Even if I hadn’t told anyone else about it, they seemed to have guessed that I’d intended to stay. Aiden was my brother, Bret was my boyfriend. They knew me well, yet I felt it was Cade that had first discerned the fact that I wanted to stay with my mother.
I met his dark gaze, seeing the truth in his steady stare. He was not going to budge on his decision. It had been alright when I had decided that I would stay. I had been in control, I had been accepting of the fact that I would be alone. But the thought of Cade staying here was terrifying to me. I couldn’t leave him here. I would never be able to live with myself if I did.
“It has been decided,” Cade said firmly.
“By who? When?” Jenna asked her eyes wide and terrified.
“By us,” Bret answered. He took hold of my hand, holding tight to it when I tried to pull free. “Last night when you were asleep.”
“You knew last night you were going to do this?” I breathed, unable to tear my gaze away from Cade’s dark beauty. I had just found him, I barely knew him, but I knew I couldn’t lose him. I simply couldn’t. I would be empty without him, I didn’t know how I knew that, but I did. I would be hollow, broken, a shell of myself without him.
“Yes,” Aiden answered. “We have to go now Bethany.”
“No. I’m not leaving.”
“Please Bethy, please,” Abby pleaded. “Don’t leave me.” I opened my mouth to protest. I felt lost, hopeless, stunned by this revelation. It was more than just Peter, I knew he was doing this for me, to keep mesafe, and I couldn’t let that happen. “Bethany.” Abby’s hand tightened on my arm, her grip was hard, painful. “Bethy please,” she whispered.
I didn’t know what she wanted me to do, what she wanted me to say to her. I didn’t know much of anything at the moment. “Abigail.”
“Don’t leave me. We can’t leave mom, and you, behind. Please Bethany I can’t lose you both.”
I closed my eyes, groaning inwardly at her soft, heartfelt plea. I bit hard on my bottom lip, fighting against the tears that burned my eyes. This was awful, just awful.
“Bethany…” Aiden’s voice trailed off. He hadn’t stopped because he didn’t know what to say, but because a soft rattle had begun to shake the store. Abby clung tighter to me as she started to tremble. The ground beneath my feet vibrated; the merchandise on the shelves began to clink together.
I held my breath, my heart pounded loudly in my ears. A loud, thumping bang shook the store, causing me to stumble slightly. A soft sob tore from Abby. The windows shook within their panes, the glass rattled more forcefully. Somewhere within the store something slid off a shelf, causing me to jump when it shattered upon the ground.
Abby clung to me, burying her face against my chest as something else fell to the floor, breaking on impact. I barely managed to bite back a scream as the store lurched violently. Jenna was not able to do the same; her startled cry rang out. Cade slid his hand over her mouth, pulling her against his chest as the store shook and heaved again. We waited breathlessly to see if Jenna’s scream had been heard over the growing noise.
The store pitched violently. The earth seemed to drop out from underneath it as the floor beneath my feet seemed to disappear for a moment before coming back up to stabilize us once more. Fear pounded through me, as boards began to splinter from the powerful upheaval. The front windows shattered, glass splayed inward. I ducked over Abby, covering her with my body as I tried to protect her from the cutting shards. Bret grabbed hold of us, pulling us back as another violent thump knocked shelves over, and caused one of the light fixtures to fall. Abby sobbed loudly, a cry of terror escaped her.
“Shh Abby,” I whispered frantically. “Please be quiet, please.”
Lights flashed over the windows, blazing into the darkened store. Bret pulled us further back, stepping in front of us as the lights danced over the broken frames before moving on. “What’s going on?” Jenna whispered the panic in her voice evident.
“Quiet!” Cade hissed.
Another rattling bang shuddered through the building swaying us all back and forth. Though I had never experienced an earthquake, I imagined that this was what it felt like. There was a heaving, rolling, sensation that staggered me to the side. The world was completely unstable beneath my feet, and the ground felt like it was going to plummet out from under me again at any minute.
It was awful, and it was petrifying.
A loud twisting screech filled the air. I cringed, clutching tighter to Abby as the noise grew in intensity, piercing the night with its shrill sound. Abby’s moan was drowned out by the ever growing din. Bret pushed us back, keeping us behind him as light flared through the store once more. A twisting, heaving, drop caused the floor to fall out beneath us and more boards to splinter and crack. This time I could not bite back my startled cry of terror as we were lurched violently to the side. I staggered, struggling to keep hold of Abby as I fought to keep my balance on the rocking floor.
“We have to get out of here!” Bret hissed, pulling me back as more windows shattered and the shelves began to tumble rapidly, destroying the precious contents upon them.
The whole store was going to come down on our heads if we stayed in here. A shelf crashed behind me, catching the back of my leg. I stumbled awkwardly forward, nearly dragging Abby down with me as my legs gave out. Bret and Abby managed to keep me on my feet, but just barely. “We have to go! We have to go!” Jenna screamed.
Cade was pulling her toward us, his jaw locked and his nostrils flaring as another rousing crash shook the building. It wouldn’t be long before the whole thing toppled in on us. This was not the west coast; this building wasn’t built to survive the shaking jolts that it was receiving, it wasn’t built to survive anything more than a moderate hurricane. If even that.
Aiden was coming at us, his arm raised protectively over his head as bits of ceiling began to rain down. “Mom!” Abby was yelling. “What about mom?”
