A Taste of Everyday -- Chapter 12b

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Zane, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Rena/X5-120, etc.).

It seemed like so long, but it was actually five hours and forty-five minutes later when I heard a motorcycle pull up to the motel near my room. I heard the engine idling and somebody walked up to my room and knocked in a pattern that I recognized immediately. I jumped, grabbed my duffel bag, and walked outside and saw Zack standing there holding his helmet.

“Let’s go,” he said. “Hang on tight to your bag.”

I nodded and he got back onto his motorcycle. I slung my duffel bag over my shoulder and tightened the strap a little so that it would be secure enough and I climbed onto the motorcycle behind Zack. We took off and headed north until we were well north of Abilene and then east. About eight-and-a-half hours after we’d left the motel, Zack pulled into a city and slowed the motorcycle down.

“Kansas City, Missouri,” Zack informed me. “How much money do you have with you?”

“Several thousand,” I replied.

“That’s plenty,” Zack said. “There’s an apartment building that has vacancies. I checked it out last week. It’s clean.” I knew what he meant by clean. Whether or not I’d attack the place with the bleach was another story that I’d figure out later. “The rent’s pretty decent. No sector police in Kansas City like there are in some of the other major cities. Make up an alias and if you need anything to back it up, let me know.”

“That’s good,” I said. “I think I should be okay.” I tried not to yawn. All the coffee that I’d drank back at the motel was wearing off and I was absolutely wiped out. I’d been up for about thirty-one hours. I knew from previous experience back at Manticore that I could go for another eighteen hours or so if absolutely necessary, but I didn’t want to. I just wanted to get an apartment so that I could get some sleep. I managed to keep my eyes open as Zack pulled up to and stopped his motorcycle in front of a building. We got off of the bike and once Zack had chained it up, went inside. I walked up to the front desk and I even managed to find the energy to put on a big smile. “Hi, I heard that you had vacancies here?”

“Yes, we do,” the lady behind the desk confirmed. “You need to see Mr. Harding in the main office. It’s that door over there. He should be in.”

“Thank you,” I said. Zack and I walked over to the door she’d indicated. I knocked on it and waited for somebody to answer.

“Yes, come in,” a voice instructed us after a few moments.

I unlocked the door and I walked inside the office. Zack stood in the doorway waiting for me. “Hi, you must be Mr. Harding. I was told to speak to you about one of your vacancies?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Mr. Harding said. “May I have your name?”

“Megan Brown,” I said.

“Okay, Ms. Brown,” he said. “How big of an apartment do you want? Are you going to be the only one living there?”

“Yes, it’ll just be me living there,” I confirmed. “I guess either a one-bedroom or a two-bedroom apartment will be fine.”

Mr. Harding typed something on the computer that was on his desk. “You’re lucky. A two-bedroom just opened up a few days ago.” He told me the rent for the apartment. “You need to put down the security deposit and the first two months rent immediately. The security deposit is $500. Will you be able to pay for it and if so, how will you be paying for it? I prefer cash, but I also take checks.”

“I have cash,” I said. “I had to clean out my bank account from back home because there isn’t a branch of the bank that I used to use here in Kansas City.” I leaned down, got enough money out of my duffel bag to cover the rent and security deposit, and handed it over to Mr. Harding. “Here you go.”

“Thank you very much.” Mr. Harding typed something else into his computer and put the money away and he walked over to a drawer and unlocked it and opened it and took a set of keys out of the drawer and handed them to me. “There are two keys to the apartment, one for you and I guess since you aren’t living with somebody else, a spare. We don’t have mailboxes here. If you need to receive mail, you need to go down to the post office and rent a P.O. Box. Your apartment is on the third floor. It’s apartment #310. Take the elevator and it’s down the hall to your right. After the first two months, the rent is due on the first of every month.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “Thanks so much.”

“Well, then,” Mr. Harding said. “Thank you once again, Ms. Brown, and I hope that you like it here in Kansas City.”

“I think that I will. Thank you.” I shook his hand, shoved the keys in my pocket, picked up my duffel bag, and I left the office. Zack and I went upstairs and followed the directions that Mr. Harding had given to my new apartment. I took the keys back out and opened the door and we walked inside. I took a good look around the place. “Not bad. It even seems to be furnished.” I walked around and found the bedrooms and saw that both of them had a bed. “Both bedrooms have a bed. Thank goodness, though I could sleep on the floor and not care about it at this point.”

“I don’t blame you,” Zack conceded. He looked like he was trying to fight off a yawn.

“Like I said, both bedrooms have a bed,” I said. “I’ll take the one that I’m going to be using for however long I’m in Kansas City and you can have the other one to crash on for the next however many hours you sleep a night these days.”

“Normally two a night, but I’ve been up longer than usual,” Zack said. “Thank you. I’ll do that after I bring the bike in.”

“Do you want the second key to the apartment?” I asked.

Zack shook his head. “No, you can keep the extra key. Just have another copy made for me when you can. In case I’m gone before you wake up, I’ll be by in a few weeks to check up on you. I’ll head back down to Texas after I get up to do recon and make sure that you’re in the clear.”

“Okay,” I said. I walked over to the bedroom that I was going to use and turned back to Zack, who was about to walk back outside to get his motorcycle. “Zack, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Rena,” Zack said.

He left and I went into the bedroom and I lay down on the bed and I finally was able to let myself cry myself to sleep.

TBC