Orthodontics in the Zombie Apocalypse

11. Angel Tells Her Story, Then it Rains (1/2)

We prepared for the continuation of our journey after dinner. Angel asked if she could help me pick out outfits, and I, begrudgingly, obliged.

"This skirt is kinda pretty," she says, holding a green knit skirt to eye-level.

"Yeah," I say with a scoff, "if you're a forty year-old school girl."

She shrugs and tosses it onto the "discard" pile on the bed.

"So...who's the 'Green Hat Lady'?"

Angel hesitates, not looking up from a hideous red floral blouse, which she holds up higher, concealing her face. "Oh...just, um, someone I used to stay with when I was younger."

"You're four."

"I'm eleven."

"Weren't you seven before?"

"Nine."

"Eight? It was definitely seven or eight."

"Ten."

I shake my head. "What is going on anymore?" My eyes narrow. "Are you trying to change the subject?"

"Psh! Why would I do that?"

I pop up an eyebrow. "That bad, huh?"

She doesn't respond.

"Was this before or after your parents died?"

"Why would you think my parents are dead?"

"You were living on the streets...They are dead, aren't they?"

"I'm not really sure. Undead, I guess. That's what I hope, anyway. I woke up one morning and they were just gone. Some lady from the company my dad worked for came and took me in. I always called her the Green Hat Lady because she wore a dark green beret every day. I wasn't the only kid she took in. Five other kids my age had the same problem as me: their parents disappeared in the middle of the night."

"And the the Green Hat Lady was a bad cook?"

"Huh?"

"The burnt soup reminded you of...Oh, never mind. Go on."

"Oh! No. She never cooked for us. She just provided cans of soup and we had to cook it ourselves. We burnt it a lot because none of us were tall enough to see, and we weren't allowed to stand on the chairs."

"And that's it?"

"What is?"

"That was your time with the Green Hat Lady? What happened to the other kids?"

"We found out she wasn't supposed to have us. The company was going to ship us off to foster homes and make sure we never met. So they got mad at her. She told us to hide, that the company had done something bad to our parents, and then we heard them take her away. I went off on my own because the others wanted to find out what she meant. I think our parents were the first zombies."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because my dad's company was testing a new cancer treatment that they couldn't test on animals--some animal rights group had sued them for it, so they were paying employees to be the test subjects. We needed the money, so my parents volunteered. And the zombie apocalypse started shortly after they disappeared for good."

I stop tonguing a far-back bracket, satisfied every bit of potato has been removed, and glance up again at Angel. "Can you repeat that last part again? I feel like it was important, but you were talking for so long--"

Angel rolls her eyes. "Basically the cancer treatment was a bad idea."

"Oh. Sounds backwards, but I'll go with it." I toss a pair of skinny jeans--my size, luckily enough--onto the "take" pile. "Alright. I think that's enough. Did you find a big suitcase for this stuff?"

Angel sets a relatively large roller bag onto the bed between both piles.

I grab a few soft T-shirts and a short, black scarf. "Here, I think these will work as dresses for you. Try it."

I focus on folding while the little girl changes. She looks uncertainly at the scarf. I pick it up and tie it around her waist, cinching the shirt into a more form-fitting style. I step back and scrutinize it. "Yeah. That'll work." I toss the small stack of shirts and the scarf in the bag with everything else I've decided to commandeer.

Angel keeps staring at me with a funny look on her face.

"What?"

"That was nice of you. You're not usually nice to me."

I shrug. "Guess you got on my good side for a minute. Don't count on that happening often." I glance over the stuff in the bag. "Now go scrounge up some fresh toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss. We need to be ready to leave early in the morning."