Still, whenever he had the option to work with friends or family on a job, of course he took it.
The young man chuckled at his question. “Most of the time, yeah. Although he can be a pain in the butt sometimes.”
Nick steeled himself for his next question. “So there's no reason you wouldn't want to work with the rest of the team, if needed?”
Chet shot him a sharp look. “Why?”
Well, given the strength of the man's response it was probably best to confront it directly. “I've just noticed that how you act around your brother, and around me and my daughter, is a lot more relaxed than how you act around the others. And it was even more noticeable in the quarantine camp when we were there delivering supplies. I just wondered if you'd been in an argument or something before you guys volunteered to scavenge with me.”
The young man's expression turned uncharacteristically dark, although he didn't immediately respond. Instead he took the time to roll down his window and spit out it, as if the conversation left a bad taste in his mouth. Nick debated whether it was better to press the issue, or give the man time to open up on his own.
He opted for the latter, absently hugging Tallie to his side as he waited, until finally after almost a minute Chet abruptly spoke up. “Remember when I told you that our farm was infected by someone who came through, probably used the outhouse?” He glanced through the driver's side mirror at the trucks behind them, then continued pointedly. “Well, where would those infected people go after leaving our farm?”
Realization dawned. “You think some of the other survivors in the camp infected your family?”
“It stands to reason,” the young man said stiffly.
That . . . was quite the revelation. And it could be a serious problem in the making; if the McCleese family was on some sort of hunt for vengeance among the survivors, what happened if they found someone they thought was guilty?
Nick wished he could talk to Ellie, get her advice about this situation. But she was still out there somewhere trying to get back to them, and anyway this group was his responsibility. He'd just have to find some way to sort this out.
So he took a deep breath and turned to face Chet more directly. “You know, the man who attacked my apartment and infected Tallie ended up dead.”
“Yeah, you killed him,” the young man growled. Nick had admitted that when they were all telling each other their stories.
Tallie made a soft noise and buried her head in his side, and he hugged her a bit closer. “I did,” he agreed solemnly. “But I kept expecting his friend to come back, either for vengeance or at least to get his friend's body. He never did, and I just assumed he'd also been infected and died of Zolos.”
Chet glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “What're you getting at?”
“That the people who came through your farm might not've realized they were infected, and since then odds are good they died of the sickness anyway.” Nick lowered his voice. “Even if they didn't, I doubt they intentionally set out to infect your family. And I can guarantee they've probably lost most or all of their loved ones.”
“So you want us to stop trying to find them? Just let it go?” The young man shook his head, expression bitter. “Even if someone in the camp might've as good as murdered our family? My girlfriend's family?”
He could only shrug a bit helplessly. “What happens if you find them? Put a gun to their heads and pull the trigger in retribution?”
“Or tell everyone what they've done and get them booted from the camp,” Chet shot back.
“And in the meantime, what happens to you?” Nick demanded. “Most of the survivors, probably all of them even, have done nothing to you. They've been your community ever since you left your farm, they could even be your friends if you let them. But instead they have to tiptoe around you because you've been treating all of them like they're guilty. Closing yourself off until you're isolated in the middle of people who need your help.”
The young man hesitated, then looked away. “If that thug who attacked your apartment had gotten your son and daughter killed, then managed to get away and infiltrate the camp you found yourself in, would you have been able to just let it go?”
That was a hard question to answer. Nick still sometimes felt a flash of rage for the man buried next to his apartment whenever he saw Tallie struggle to lift even the lightest thing, or try and fail to shift to a more comfortable position in her blanket.
He took a deep breath. “I need you and Ben to be real members of this team, at least,” he finally said. “Lila lived near St. Joe, Charlie in St. Louis, and Val in Des Moines. They all drove here . . . none of them could be responsible for what happened to your family. So even if you and Ben can't open up to everyone in camp, at least give your fellow scavengers a break.”
Chet gave him a bitter smile. “We can do that. We'd already figured out everyone here was cool anyway.”
That was something. Nick wanted to push the issue further, maybe get the brothers to promise to come talk to him before doing anything rash if they did happen to find someone they thought had infected their farm. But he had a feeling the young man beside him was at the limits of his patience.
So he forced his own smile and clapped him on the shoulder. “Good.” He hesitated, searching for the right words. “You know, you and Ben are great members of this team. And even though we haven't been working together long, I consider you friends. I'm glad you agreed to volunteer for this job.”
This time Chet's smile was slightly more genuine. “Thanks, boss.” He took a hand from the wheel to clap him on the shoulder in return, then focused back on the road and didn't say any more as they drove the final distance to the neighborhood they'd be working in.
Nick hoped his efforts here had done some good. The brothers seemed too easygoing for bitterness and suspicion to dominate their personalities, and he thought they'd been getting back to their former selves since leaving the source of their suspicions in the quarantine camp.
Hopefully as they threw themselves into scavenging they'd forget about their hunt for vengeance, find some peace with their grief and move on with their lives.
Chapter Seventeen
Reunion
Ellie poked her head out the window, trying to see what was going on as up ahead Hal slowed down his mom's car. They had to be almost to Stanberry by now, so maybe he was slowing down to get a view of the town before they headed in.
No, that wasn't it; coming into view was a roadblock of mixed construction and police barricades, guarded by a few men in civilian clothes with serious weapons, sleek black shotguns and military-looking rifles. One raised a radio to his mouth as Hal slowed to a stop a safe distance away, Ellie pulling in close behind him.
The weapons made her nervous, especially since these guys weren't official military or law enforcement. But they didn't seem threatening, especially now that the cars had stopped. In fact, they almost seemed to be waiting.
For, as it turned out, a medium-height man in his late 20s, who came driving up to the roadblock from the direction of town on a four-wheeler. He hopped off the vehicle, shared a few words with the men as if he was in charge, and then approached the two cars with an expression like he wanted to pick a fight.
Well, that wasn't a hopeful sign.
“Sorry, folks,” he called, not sounding particularly apologetic. “Stanberry's closed. You can either head to the quarantine camp southeast of town or turn around and go somewhere else.”
Hal called back, tone polite and disarming. “We've just come from the Colorado Springs quarantine camp, and have certification that we've spent the 21 days to confirm we're not Zolos carriers. We haven't been in contact with any potential infected since.”
Ellie noted that he neglected to clarify that his family hadn't been to the camp. But since they'd basically also gone through 21 days in his apartment, it was probably best not to muddy the water by mentioning it.
“Colorado Springs, huh?” the roadblo
ck guards' leader growled. “Long ways. Maybe you should've stayed there.”
She fought down a surge of irritation and raised her own voice to chime in. “My ex-husband and our two children came here, and I need to find them. I don't suppose you know Nick Statton, or Gen Foss?”
If possible, the surly man's expression soured even further. “Statton, eh?” He looked over their loaded cars with a derisive snort. “Going to go impose on the Norsons, too? Do your part turning their yard into its own little quarantine camp?”
The Norsons, huh? That must be who Gen was staying with, although Ellie didn't know the relationship there; maybe she should've tried harder to get to know Nick's neighbor when she had the chance.
“We haven't decided what we're going to do,” she replied as patiently as she could. “Right now I just want to see my children . . . I've been separated from them since the pandemic started. Can you please point me to the Norsons' house?”
Surly didn't reply for an uncomfortable fifteen or so seconds as he looked them and the cars over with a sour expression. She was sure he was going to refuse, even force her to turn back, when he finally grunted. “Quarantine camp certifications don't mean jack here. If you go to the Norsons, you stay there and keep to yourselves until you've waited out 21 more days where I can see you.”
The man quickly gave instructions for taking back roads around the western edge of town, then lowered his voice to a growl as he finished. “And don't even think about going into town until you've waited out three weeks at the Norsons'. We'll shoot intruders if we have to, to protect our citizens from Zolos.”
Ellie glumly reflected that before the Zolos crisis started, she'd gone her entire life without ever being threatened with getting shot. Now it was the standard response in most encounters. “Understood,” she said through gritted teeth. “Thank you for your help.”
Surly just grunted and waved them away.
She backed up the car to the road he'd pointed out, Hal backing up at the same rate ahead of her. Since she was now the first person in the convoy, she turned down the side road and started around the town with her boyfriend following.
To her relief, she didn't see any more roadblocks as they drove. Even so, she kept to a slow pace to avoid alarming any further roadblocks or patrols. “Thanks for letting me take the reins in the discussion back there, even when the guy was being a jerk,” she called back to Hal.
He poked his head out to reply, looking irked. “The way he was acting, my only contribution would've been to cuss him out. That wouldn't have helped anything.”
“Well if you don't mind I'd like to take the lead with the Norsons, too. They might be just as annoyed by new arrivals, and aside from Nick apparently living in their yard I have no idea who they are. It'll probably be a touchy situation, and since it's my family it's my responsibility to deal with.”
Ellie was surprised when Cara also rolled her window down to chime in, although she probably shouldn't have been considering what she knew about the woman. “Maybe you should be less of a doormat next time,” Cara called. “People shouldn't be allowed to get away with acting rude.”
That was a bit rich, coming from her.
Hal snorted. “People with guns tend to get away with acting as rude as they want,” he said dryly.
“Maybe you should've used your gun too, then,” his mom shot back. “What's the point of having it otherwise?”
Ellie saw her boyfriend shake his head in disbelief through the rearview mirror. “And do what, pick a fight with the defenders of the town we're hoping to possibly get accepted into?”
The older woman made an irritated sound. “No, but you should at least be willing to defend your family.” She laughed harshly. “And the cougar you shacked up with, I suppose.”
Ellie could've done without this conversation at all, let alone shouted between their cars for anyone within twenty yards to hear, so she rolled up her window and sped up. Which she'd intended to do anyway, now that she knew where her family was and there was nothing standing between her and them.
After a few uncomfortable seconds of silence Todd spoke up timidly. “Isn't a cougar like a big cat?”
Oh for the love of . . . she half sighed, half laughed. “That's right.”
“Why did Mom say Hal has one of those?”
“Maybe she was just being silly.” Ellie abruptly straightened in her seat, a surge of mingled excitement and dread running through her. “There's my ex-husband's car!” she said, pointing.
As the kids all eagerly leaned over the backs of the front seats to see, she pulled to a stop in front of the house Nick's car was parked in front of. Although considering his warning about Zolos, she pulled off the road on the other side of the driveway from it, as far as humanly possible while still being in front of the house. That wasn't too hard since it had been driven around out of the way beside a toolshed.
Ellie bit back a sob at the sight of a tent pitched not far from the shed, her son sitting morosely outside tossing a baseball into the air and catching it, looking bored out of his mind. She clawed her way out of the car and bolted towards the tent, calling as she ran. “Ricky!”
Ricky fumbled catching the ball, which rolled away across the yard, and bolted to his feet. “Mom!”
She laughed with joy and sped up, just twenty feet away from sweeping her boy up in her arms, tears streaming from her eyes at seeing him alive and well. Her beautiful, sweet boy.
“Ellie, stop!” she heard a woman shout frantically from the porch. “Richard Berthold Statton, DO NOT go outside that boundary! You'll give your mom Zolos!”
Ricky's expression went from joyous to horrified in an instant, and he skidded to a halt one step short of stepping outside a large circle dug into the lawn around the tent, stopping so abruptly he fell flat on his backside.
Ellie lurched to a stop as well, turning to look at the pleasantly plump woman standing on the porch's top step. She recognized Nick's upstairs neighbor Gen Foss, who she'd met a couple times when picking up the kids and had heard a bit more about from her ex-husband.
The woman had always struck Ellie as warm and kindhearted, and Ricky and Tallie both liked her a lot. So the danger must be real and serious for her to interrupt a tearful reunion by shouting so sharply. Ellie glanced at her son, who'd begun to sniffle as he sat forlornly on the grass, then back to the plump woman.
“What happened?” she asked quietly. “Is he infected?”
Gen hesitated. “We can't know. But Nick and Tallie both were, so we should be extra cautious. He's only got another nine days until we can be sure he's safe, though.”
Nine days felt like an eternity when she ached to hold her baby boy in her arms right now. But compared to the rest of their life together if there was actually danger, it was worth the wait. That didn't mean her heart didn't clench painfully as she settled down on the grass as close as she felt was safe.
“Nick and Tallie were infected?” she asked, glancing towards the shed and his car hoping to see them. But if they were in the shed they didn't come out, and hearing her voice she felt confident they would've. “Are they okay?” She dreaded the answer, even though she was sure this kindhearted woman would've told her immediately if they weren't.
Gen's expression was very serious, even as she hastened to reassure her. “They're both alive and doing fine. But Tallie got very sick, and is still too weak to move much.”
The news hit Ellie like a dagger to the heart. She instinctively looked around for Hal, relieved to find he'd joined her, and sought out his hand. He crouched beside her and gave her hand a comforting squeeze.
Tallie was sick, but alive. And after this long she must be well on her way to recovery. And apparently Nick was healthy or at least not sick enough to mention. And Ricky was just fine; either immune to the virus or somehow miraculously not exposed.
Even so, her reunion felt hollow. A month's worth of dreams of gathering her beautiful children in her arms and holding them tight, feeling their li
ttle arms around her, had been dashed.
She turned back to Ricky. “I'm so glad you're okay, honey. I want to hug you more than anything, you know that, but we'll have to wait until it's safe.” He nodded, wearing a heartbreaking expression of disappointment and longing; how long had he been completely isolated like this? Ellie looked between him and Gen and continued. “Where are Nick and Tallie?”
The plump woman hesitated. “Nick's been scavenging on behalf of the town, and to get us supplies. He's had to take Tallie with him, since with her a Zolos carrier there's no one to take care of her here. Although he's been careful. Mayor Darby assigned more Zolos survivors from the quarantine camp outside town to help him scavenge, and they've got a regular operation going.”
Ellie frowned deeply at that news. Her ex-husband was taking their sweet baby girl scavenging? She wouldn't have pegged such a mild-mannered, unassuming man for such a potentially dangerous job. Especially not if he was dragging their bedridden daughter along for the ride . . . was he crazy?
Her mind flashed uncomfortably back to the gang of robbers who'd assaulted and kidnapped her in Watkins, and she imagined them descending on Nick and Tallie while they were poking around looking for food.
She pushed determinedly to her feet. “Where are they scavenging?”
Gen eyed her warily. “A place southwest of here called Wensbrook.” Ellie started to turn for her car, and the kindly woman's voice became alarmed again. “But you can't go there! The entire town was hit hard by Zolos and evacuated, it's completely contaminated! On top of that Nick and your daughter and the other scavengers are all carriers of the virus. They'll be back tonight when they're done working, although they also come in the early afternoon to bring the first of two truckloads of goods to the stockpile for their daily quota.”
Isolation (Book 2): Going Out Page 32
