Fire and ice

11:00 a.m

K-Rad walked into the Retro and took a stool at the bar. The place had just opened, and the lunch crowd hadn’t started sifting in yet. K-Rad was the only customer. He’d stuffed his gas mask and other goodies into his backpack, and he’d left the Kevlar vest and the Berettas in his car. The bartender, a chick named Tami with full-sleeve tats on her arms and quarter-inch gauges in her earlobes, slapped a napkin in front of him and said, “What’s up, K?”

“Not much. Let me get a Shiner Bock, okay?”

“Sure.”

She brought the longneck brown bottle and popped the top with an opener. The television was tuned to an infomercial about an herbal supplement called Zark-O. It was supposed to make you live to be around two hundred years old or something.

“Can you turn it on Channel Four?” K-Rad said. Channel 4 was one of the local network affiliates, and K-Rad knew the boneheads on the news team there would have the big story before it went national. Those motherfuckers thrived on human misery. They went after it like vultures went after roadkill.

Tami wiped her hands with a towel. “I heard that stuff really works.”

“Zark-O?”

“Yeah.”

“Come on. It’s bullshit. Nothing’s going to make you live longer. When your time’s up, it’s up.”

“I just heard it makes you feel better. That’s all.”

“I think I’ll stick with alcohol. Can you change the channel for me?”

Tami picked up the remote and switched the channel. “Wouldn’t you want to live forever if you could, though?” she said.

“Immortality isn’t about how long you’re here,” K-Rad said. “It’s about what you do while you’re here.”

“Wow. That’s deep. I still might try the Zark-O. Just to see what it’s like.”

K-Rad didn’t say anything. He looked up at the television, wondering why he hadn’t heard the explosion or at least felt the earth shake. Maybe the Retro was too far away from the plant. Anyway, he was sure there would be some breaking news soon.

“Wait a minute,” he said. “Are those sirens I hear?”

Tami lowered the volume on the television. “Yep. Must be a fire somewhere.”

K-Rad got up and walked outside. In the distance he saw plumes of black smoke rising from Nitko’s direction. Yes! Mission accomplished. He smiled and went back inside to finish his beer.