Everyone else at the table said “Amen” in unison, and Samantha lifted the lids off the pots. Steam rose from the potatoes along with the smell of rosemary. Will’s stomach growled as the smell hit his nostrils.
“Dig in, everyone,” Timothy said.
The ladies went first, and as Will was collecting his share of potatoes, lettuce, rice, and beans, he said, “This looks and smells delicious, Samantha. Thank you so much.”
She just smiled and retreated into the kitchen.
“She loves cooking for others,” Timothy said.
Samantha returned with another bottle of wine, popped the cork, and poured a glass for herself and one for her husband. Then she sat down and fixed herself a plate.
Will took the first bite of the potatoes and closed his eyes as he chewed, the rosemary spice hitting his tongue.
“This is so good,” Charlie said.
“Thank you,” Samantha said. “We’ve only got a few more weeks of the garden, I’m afraid. Then it’ll be mostly canned goods until Spring.”
They enjoyed their dinner, not speaking much. The kids did equal amounts coloring and eating. Then Timothy spoke.
“So, now that Holly is feeling better, what’s the plan?” he asked.
“That was something I’d hope to talk to you about,” Will said. “I know you wanted me to speak to the others in the community about the Empties. I still intend on doing that before I leave, but we just need to figure out when.”
“I was hoping we could possibly have a community meeting tomorrow evening.”
Will passed glances with Holly, Jessica, and Charlie. Then he said to Timothy, “I’m not really sure we were planning on staying all day tomorrow. Holly is feeling well enough to travel, and I know that Gabriel is ready to leave. If he’d had it his way, we’d have never stopped here.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you did, because she might have gained an infection,” Samantha said.
Will sighed and said, “I know. But it’s crucial that we get to Alexandria.”
“Well,” Timothy said, “I hate to even ask this, but I was hoping that we could get one more favor from you first.”
Will swallowed, knowing he was about to be put into a position that he didn’t want to be in. An uncomfortable dilemma where he’d have to make a choice that would make someone unhappy. He could feel it coming.
“We need to make another supply run,” Timothy said.
Will felt his throat go dry, and not from the wine.
“And look, I know that you guys are trying to leave,” Timothy continued. “But you’ve got so much more experience out there than we do.”
“Right, and you know how we got that experience?” Holly asked. “By being out there. How do you ever expect your people to get good at surviving in this new world if you keep sending others out there to do your deeds for you?”
Will placed his hand on her arm. “Holly, calm down.”
She looked to him. “I’m tired of you always being the one having to go out and do this shit. Do you know how hard it is for me every time you leave on one of these little adventures without me?”
Will sighed. “Holly, these people helped you.”
She wiped her mouth and stood up. “You wanna go? Fine, go.” She turned.
Will tried to grab her arm, but she moved out of reach too quickly.
“Holly, wait.”
But she was already out the front door.
“I’m really sorry,” Will said, looking to Timothy and Samantha.
“It’s completely understandable,” Samantha said. “Go talk to her if you need to.”
“No, she’s best if I just let her cool off.”
“What if I just go?” Charlie said.
“Won’t make a difference,” Will said. “Sure, it’ll appease Holly. But it’ll still delay us from leaving. Gabriel isn’t going to be happy about this either. Probably be more upset than Holly was.”
Charlie said, “Actually, that’s something I wanted to talk to you guys about.”
Will narrowed his eyes, giving Charlie a quizzical look.
Charlie cleared his throat. “I’m not going with you guys when you leave.”
“What? Why not?”
“You’re not coming with us?” Dylan asked, looking up from the small table.
“I’m not made to be running like this,” Charlie said. “At the campground, we had it made. I would go out on those runs to the home improvement store, but that was it. We were safe. You know how much better it felt to be somewhere you could feel that way? Like you were immune to all the danger out there?”
“But you weren’t,” Will said. “Remember what happened? If you had been there, you might’ve gone down with everyone else.”
“I’m really sorry,” Charlie said. “But I feel like my place is here with these people.”
Will sighed again. “Well, I can’t stop you from making the decision. And I can’t say that I really blame you.” He looked to Timothy and Samantha. “These are really good people here, and they’ll be getting a very strong addition to their community.”
“Thank you,” Charlie said.
“We’re really going to enjoy having him around,” Timothy said. “And we’ll be sad to see you guys go. But I understand if you can’t help us out one last time tomorrow.”
“You brought us into your community and helped us twice, without question,” Will said. “Without you, Holly might have died, and—”
He cut his words off, looking over to Dylan coloring. Will knew everyone understood what he would say and that he had no need to finish the sentence.
“I’ll go,” Will said. “It won’t be that big of a deal for us to stay an extra day. And tomorrow night you can get everyone together and I’ll tell them about what happened to me.”
Timothy nodded. “I really appreciate you agreeing to that.”
“You need to send people with me who you want to make runs in the future. Charlie will be able to help train them as well, but they should go out with us this time.”
“Agreed,” Samantha said.
“But after tomorrow night, we leave.”
“Understood,” Timothy said.
Will realized suddenly how silent Jessica had been, through all that conversation. She sat across the table, still picking at her food. Everyone else had finished, but she had taken her time with eating.
“You’ve been really quiet,” Will said to her. “You need to be in on these decisions, too.”
She looked up at him with a discouraged scowl. “It seems like you’ve already made your choice.” Then, like Holly, she stood up and left.
Will leaned back in his chair and blew out a deep breath as he heard the front door open, then slam shut.
“Look,” Timothy said, “we really don’t—”
“It’s fine,” Will said. “Really. It’s one extra day.”
He kept on telling himself it was only one extra day, and then trying to figure out how he was going to sell that to Gabriel.
CHAPTER SIX
Jessica had made three trips down the road and around the cul-de-sac when she finally stopped in front of the house she and Gabriel were staying in. She thought to do another lap, the cool autumn breeze feeling good on her skin, but decided not to. She had been in her own thoughts for long enough, and wanted to talk to the only other person there who knew how she was feeling.
The people who lived in the house, a couple in their 30s, looked back from the living room when she entered. Jessica had only talked to them once, and wasn’t sure she remembered their names. She thought the man was Steve, the woman Teresa. They had a 10-year-old son, and his name was definitely Caleb; Dylan and Mary Beth had spent some time that day playing with him when Jessica had been watching over the children.
“Good evening,” Steve said when she entered.
“Hi,” Jessica offered back lamely.
“Can we get you anything?” Teresa asked.
“No, thank you,” Jessica said. “I
’m just going to head upstairs.”
At the top of the stairs, she headed right down the hallway. There were two bedrooms, separated by a bathroom. A door on the other end of the hall led into a closet. Jessica put her ear to Gabriel’s door. It was quiet inside. Knowing he’d hardly slept and that it was still early in the evening, she knocked.
No response.
“Hey, it’s Jess—”
The door opened, and by the time she could see Gabriel, he had already turned his back and headed to the bed. He sat down on the edge of it and averted his eyes from her. Jessica shut the door behind her and went to the chair in the corner of the room.
There was silence for several moments. Jessica focused on the crickets chirping outside the window. She could hear Gabriel breathe. Then he spoke.
“How was dinner?”
“The food was good,” Jessica said. “They saved you some, but I left before I could grab it for you.”
“That’s all right. I’m not really that hungry. Was everyone else there?”
Jessica nodded.
“Even Holly?”
“Yeah, she was there.”
“How’s she doing?”
“She’s good,” Jessica said. “I didn’t really talk to her. She seemed like she was in a little bit of pain. But she was doing all right.”
“Good,” Gabriel said. “Hopefully, she’ll be ready to leave by tomorrow.”
Jessica sighed and leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees. “About that.”
Gabriel looked up, narrowing his eyes. “What about it?”
Jessica went into the conversation they’d had over dinner. How Timothy had asked Will to go on another run, and how Will had made the decision to say yes without even talking to the others.
When she was finished, Gabriel was silent. He stared at the dresser sitting across from him. Then he suddenly jumped to his feet and knocked everything off of the top of it. Pictures and other random things fell to the ground, and Gabriel’s face went red. Jessica remained seated, gripping the arms of her chair tight.
“Fuck this,” Gabriel said. He went back to the bed and started to gather his clothes and his few other possessions into his bag.
“What are you doing?” Jessica asked, rising out of the chair.
“I’m leaving,” Gabriel said. “I’m tired of this shit and I’ve gotta get to my family.”
“Are you nuts?” Jessica said. “You can’t leave.”
“I can, and I will.”
“You’re not going out there at night. And you shouldn’t be traveling alone at all anyway, even in the daytime.”
He continued packing without responding, and when he was finished, he headed for the door. Jessica stood in his way, putting her hand out and grabbing his shoulder.
“Get out of my way, Jessica.”
“No. I’m not letting you leave.”
“You’re not going to stop me.”
“Look, if you want to leave, fine. I get it. But before you go bolting out of here and doing something stupid, I want you to lie down in that bed and think about it. Give it an hour; if you’re still pissed and wanna leave then, I won’t stop you.”
He just stared at her, breathing heavy with his face scrunched up in anger.
“Please,” Jessica said.
“One hour,” Gabriel said. “I’ll lie in here, and when I’m ready to go, you’re not going to stop me.”
“Absolutely not,” Jessica said.
He turned around, dropping his bag on the floor. He took off his shoes and lay back down in the bed, eyes wide and facing the ceiling. Jessica returned to the chair in the corner of the room.
He’ll think better of it, Jessica thought. He has to.
And he did, as the hour mark passed and he never left.
CHAPTER SEVEN
After breakfast, Will made his way over to the house where Jessica and Gabriel were staying. Holly had already been asleep in their bed by the time he’d gotten back to their house the night before, but he’d hardly slept—not after the fuss at the dinner table. And she had still been asleep when he’d gotten out of bed that morning to go have a bowl of cereal, not feeling sure if she was still upset with him or not.
Standing on the sidewalk in front of Gabriel and Jessica’s, he stared through the windows and took a deep breath. He assumed that Jessica had already told Gabriel that Will had made the decision to stay another day in order to take a group out on a run. Part of him hoped she had. Maybe he had had time to sleep off any anger.
“Well, can’t just stand out here all day,” he mumbled to himself, and then he headed up the porch steps to the door.
When he knocked, the woman who lived at the house answered with a smile on her face.
“Good morning, Will.”
“Teresa, right?” Will asked, not sure if he remembered her name or not.
“That’s right.”
“I was hoping I could talk to Gabriel. I’m assuming he’s here.”
Teresa nodded. “He’s still up in his room.” She stepped out of the doorway so Will could enter. Her smile went away, though, as she motioned at the stairs. “He doesn’t really come out all that much. We’ve pretty much just left him alone.”
“That’s probably best,” Will said. “He’s got a lot going on.”
“Well, if there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”
“Thank you, Teresa.”
Will made his way up the stairs, taking a right at the top, and saw that the door to Gabriel’s room was closed.
Taking a deep breath, he knocked.
There was no immediate response, and he waited for several moments before checking the handle. The door was unlocked, so he pushed it open.
Gabriel was still lying in the bed, passed out asleep. The strange thing was the hump in the bed next to him. Will could see the long, dark hair of the woman lying next to him. It was Jessica. Will shook his head and sighed. He was about to turn and leave the room when Jessica tossed. She let out a yawn, and when she looked up, her eyes went wide and she gasped.
“Jesus, Will,” she said. “You startled me.”
When she spoke, Gabriel groaned beside her, rubbing his eyes. He shifted to his side and looked toward the door.
“What’s going on?” Will asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.
“Oh, screw off,” Gabriel said, grumbling. “Nothing happened.”
“I came here after dinner and we started talking,” Jessica said. “Just didn’t feel like sleeping by myself last night.”
“Nice,” Will said, still unconvinced.
Gabriel sat on the edge of the bed, only wearing his boxer shorts. He slipped on a white T-shirt.
“What do you care, anyway?” Gabriel asked. “It’s not like you’re sleeping alone.”
“I don’t know, Gabriel. Maybe because the whole point of this God damned trip, the only reason I’m heading toward the East Coast, is so that we can find your wife and your daughter. I think maybe that’s the reason seeing you in bed with another woman is a little alarming.”
“Yeah, about finding my family,” Gabriel said. “What’s this shit I hear about you going on a run today?”
Will shut the door behind them, remembering there were other people in the house—including a young boy. He drew in a deep breath, exhaling just as hard, before turning around again.
“Look,” Will said. “These people have been nothing but helpful to us. They saved Dylan and Holly. And I’m not sure if you remember, but they sacrificed some of their own people to come to that school and help us save you guys.”
Gabriel stood and turned to face Will. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Then what’s the big deal? We stay one extra day and help them out. Then, tomorrow, we’re gone.”
Gabriel walked across the room, stopping when he had encroached on Will’s personal space.
“You know what my problem is?” Gabriel said, speaking with a surprising calmness. “It’s not with these people
here asking us to help them out a little more. It’s with you. You seem to have forgotten that we’re in this together.”
“I haven’t for—”
“No, you listen to me for just a minute,” Gabriel interrupted him. “Jessica told me how things went down at that dinner table last night. Timothy asked you, and you said yes. Did it not occur to you for even one second that you didn’t have to give him an answer right away? That maybe you could discuss it with the rest of us?”
“What do you want me to say?” Will asked. “What’s done is done. I can’t go back and tell him something else.”
“How about starting with ‘I’m sorry’?” Jessica asked from the bed.
Will looked over Gabriel’s shoulder at her, and then back to Gabriel. He stuck his arms out to the side and said, “Is that what you want? All right, fine. I’m sorry. Is that better?”
Gabriel shook his head and turned around. “You just don’t get it.”
“Get what?” Will said, raising his voice now. “I’ll tell you what I get. I get that these people risked their lives to go to that school. That some of them lost their lives. I get that they’re blowing through their medical supplies trying to help the other people we saved from that school. Even with all the stuff we found there, there still isn’t enough.”
Gabriel looked back. “But you’ll never get what it was like to stay in that hell. You’ll never understand that.”
Will shook his head. “No, I guess I won’t, Gabe.” He thought to compare the situation to being held against his will by David Ellis. To say to Gabriel, You don’t know what it’s like to watch a monster kill your mother. But for whatever reason, he held back.
Instead, he exited the room, slamming the door behind him.
***
When Will stormed out the front door, a group of people who were gathered in the middle of the street turned to look at him. The group included Timothy, Charlie, and Karl, the man who’d introduced them to this community in the first place. Will stomped down the steps and headed for the street, looking over at a nearby house to keep his gaze away from the onlookers.
Empty Bodies 6: Revelation (Empty Bodies Series Book 6) Page 3
