Whakahapa, 7

They drove into the town. Shadows were getting longer, the day was dying. It felt later, but his watch claimed that it was only just after 4pm. Maybe he didn't have the right time after all?

“You, umm, you haven't told me your name.”

“Haven't I? It doesn't matter much, but it's Esther. Esther Hope actually.”

“Oh. Hello Esther, I am Amos.”

“Yes. I know that, you told me.”

“Did I? Right. Anyway, Esther, I was wondering, do you know what thew right time is?”

“The time? Good Lord, Boy. Haven't you worked that out yet?”

“I thought I had, but I must be wrong. My watch says it's only 4 o'clock, but it feels much later than that.”

“What a clever watch,” she grinned. “My one can't talk to me. No, seriously, you're about right. I've got 4.20pm, so we nearly agree.”

“It still feels later.”

“Not to me, it doesn't. I grew up around here. It's the hills, they make the day shorter when the sun drops behind them. It'll still be sunny down by the sea.”

“I see. That makes sense, I think. Where are we going to stay for the night, one of these motels here?”

The road that they were on, the main road into town, had a series of motel blocks along it, each with big signs trying to lure-in the passing traveller.

Esther frowned. “No, I don't think so. We're still too far out of town here. Keep going and we'll stop in a hotel in the centre of the main street. We might as well have the best, so pick the flashest, newest one you can find.”

“Okay, but I haven't got any money. Can you afford to stay in a place like that?”

“Money?” she snorted. “Who are you going to pay – me? There's no-one else. Times have changed and the whole world is there for the taking. Get used to it.”

“I'll never get used to that. It doesn't seem right to take things and not pay for them.”

“Seems right to me. Seems like a bloody good deal actually. If you've got no money, how did you pay for everything that you've got in this car?”

“I had some money, but I've run out. I haven't paid for everything yet, but I will. I left IOU's and I'll settle-up later when things get back to normal. Well, sometimes I left IOU's, sometimes I forgot, but I meant to. That's the honest thing to do.”

“Just live in your little dream world, don't you? Amos, you don't have to pay for anything – nothing at all! The world we knew has gone and nobody owns anything now. If you want or need something, take it, its yours. I don't what, but something's happened. Everyone has gone and the world is ours now – all of it and everything in it.”

“I just – no! I can't accept that. It's too much, too big a thing to believe. What would we do if all of the people came back and we'd been helping ourselves to everything? We'd be in huge trouble. They might even cut our hands off.”

“That's not going to happen and they're not coming back, ever.”

“You don't know that!” he wailed., really upset now. “They all disappeared at once, they might all come back the same way.”

“Hardly likely, is it? It's not a play, they're not standing quietly waiting off-stage in the wings you know. Anyway, think on this. The food is already starting to go off. Freezers are thawing and fresh food is going to go rotten. Whatever you and I eat for the rest of our lives is not going to make much difference. It won't be a fraction of all that is wasted.

Same thing goes for anything we use. Everything is going to decay. Spontaneous fires are already breaking out, I've seen several today. As time goes on, storm damage will happen, fallen leaves will block drains and cause flooding. Buildings will leak, rot and collapse. Everything's going downhill and there's no-one to fix it. What we take will make no difference.”

“That's only true if they don't come back.”

“No-one's coming back. Forget what your religion told you. People don't get undead.”

“We don't know if they're dead.”

“Of course they are! There's a hotel, stop down there.”

Amos pulled over to the kerb by what looked to be the biggest building in the street – the New World Hotel. The front of the car clipped a metal rubbish bin as he stopped with a jerk, and it rolled noisily out into the street, sounding shockingly loud in the silence.

The noise faded, Amos shrugged and grinned. “Oops”

“Indeed. How long have you been driving?”

“Two days”

“That long? You're not doing too bad, I guess. Didn't kill us anyway. Come inside and we'll find rooms for the night before it gets dark.”

“Do we just leave the car here?”

“Yes. Why not? Are you worried about someone stealing it?”

“No. You're right, that's not going to happen.”

“It's not and I'm always right. Anyway, if you did lose it, you could just pick another. There's plenty to choose from.”

“I suppose so, but I have got all this food and stuff in here.”

“And the shops are full of more. Don't worry about it.”

“I'll try not to, but I worry – that's what I do best.”

“Stop it then. Come on, we've got to figure out how to get into this place.”

They got out and Esther tried the hotel doors, they were locked and wouldn't open. “We need a bar or something to break in here. What tools have you got in the car?”

“There's some in the boot, buried under everything else.”

“That's not very well organised. Much easier to keep your tools with you in the front. Give me the keys and I'll dig them out.”

While she rummaged around in the boot, Amos backed out into the street to look up at the building towering over them. The hotel was 6, no, it was 7 storeys high. Was that what he thought it was? Yes, it was. “Esther, I think I know how to get inside without breaking-in. There's an open window up there by the fire-escape.”

She stopped what she was doing, joined him in the middle of the street and looked up.

“I see it. Okay, I'll give you 5 minutes, and then I'm breaking the doors.”

Five minutes is not very long.”

“Stop wasting time then.”

“Okay, I'm hurrying!”

He scrambled up the fire escape ladder, in the window and through the vacant room. The big bed had been slept in and left unmade, with the covers disturbed but pulled-up and he was sure that he could see impressions left where two bodies had been. There was no time to worry about that now, he ran along the dark corridor to the stair-well, where the light the light was coming up from the ground floor, and ran 2 flights of stairs down to the bottom.

He stopped, grinning triumphantly at Esther through the glass doors. She was saying something. He couldn't hear what it was, but from the way she was gesturing with the hammer and wrecking bar, she was probably telling him to hurry up.

There were bolts fastened at the bottoms of both of the double doors. He lifted them and tried the handles – nothing happened, they were still locked. Why? Ah! Bolts at the top as well. He undid them and the doors easily opened inwards.

“Welcome to our hotel,” he smiled.

“Yes, well done. I still think it would've been easier to break in. One whack with the hammer and the door would be gone.”

“It would've, but there was no need to smash anything. Broken doors wouldn't keep the weather out.”

“Weather? What weather?” she frowned.

“That weather.” He pointed and she looked back at where a big black bank of clouds was coming up the valley.

“Oh. That weather. We're in for rain. It still wouldn't matter much, we're not sleeping in the lobby and tomorrow we'll be gone. I'll be gone anyway, you can please yourself what you do.

First things first. We'll choose rooms to sleep in – separate rooms, and then we'll have something to eat. It will soon be dark, have you got lamps in the car?”

“I've got a kerosene lantern and a box of candles.”

“That's good. Bring them in, we're going to need them. I'll be upstairs, on the first floor.”

He found the lantern, the candles and the matches to light them. Also, he pulled out the small gas cooker, the gas bottle and pots. Well, they'd need to eat. He carried them inside and up to the first floor.

It was really dark up there now, so he put everything down on the floor, sat at the top of the stairs and lit the kerosene lamp. Once it heated up, the mantle glowed as brightly as any electric light.

Esther came out of a room along the corridor. “Oh. What've you got there? I thought you'd turned the power on.”

“I wish I could This is my lamp, it's fueled by kerosene and I got it from a Hunting, Camping and Sportsgoods store.”

“Of course you did. Well done. Bring your junk down here. This is my room and you can have the one across the corridor.”

“Aren't we going to share a room? I'd feel safer if we did.”

“We're not. Toughen up, Boy. I'm not sitting holding your hand all night, I need my sleep. Anyway, what is there to be afraid of? Nothing, that's what.”

“Doesn't that worry you at all?”

“What, that there's nothing to be afraid of? Why would it?”

“I mean, doesn't it worry you that everyone has disappeared, and all of the birds and animals too?”

“Why worry? It's happened. Now we have to live with it. Is there food in the car?”

“Yes, there is. Lots of it and drinks too.”

“Good. We'll eat that then and tomorrow we'll get some more. All the shops out there are full of goods just waiting for us.”

“Yes. I suppose that what we don't use will be wasted.”

“It will. Come down and we'll get your food before it gets dark.”