Page 92 of Romancing in Rot

MAPPING

CLAIR

Carlos leans over Earl’s map like he’s about to rearrange Earl’s world.

Earl pats his pockets, frowning, then looks at Edith. “Where are my readers?”

“On top of your head.”

“No, my new readers.”

Edith sighs and pulls a pair from the pouch beside her chair. The frames are rainbow striped, bright enough to be seen from space.

Earl takes them and puts them on without hesitation.

Carlos stares.

Joanie’s mouth opens.

Earl points at her without looking up. “Not one word.”

Joanie closes her mouth, then opens it again. “Respectfully, those are magnificent.”

Earl sniffs. “I like the colors.”

Edith digs into her own pouch and pulls out a pair of reading glasses with tiny dinosaurs printed along the frames. She slides them onto her nose and peers at the map. “Mine have dinosaurs.”

Luis leans forward, eyes brightening for the first time since we brought him through the gate. “Those are cool.”

Edith beams. “Thank you, dear.”

Carlos looks confused as hell, glancing around at all of us like he’s trying to decide if he’s been rescued or absorbed by a traveling circus.

Welcome to the family.

Earl looks over the top of his rainbow-striped readers. “Now. Explain how I got the city wrong.”

Carlos points to a section near the inner streets. “That block’s impassable. Cars piled up. Whole street is full of dead. Not wandering either. Packed. Like they got funneled there and never left.”

He taps another street. “Here too. Pharmacy burned, but the alley behind it is open if the dumpster hasn’t shifted. This intersection is bad. Real bad. We called it the Bell.”

“The Bell?” Trish asks.

Carlos nods. “Church tower cracked. Bell still swings when the wind hits right. Draws them in. Whole block fills up every time it rings.”

Lyla’s face tightens. “How many?”

Carlos shrugs, but there’s nothing casual about it. “Enough.”

That means too many.

Jacob keeps his voice even. “And the gas?”

Carlos’s fingers stop on the map.

For the first time since he moved closer, he looks toward the trees instead of the streets drawn on paper.

“Obvious places are empty,” he says.