"But, like I told Robert, we don't know if there are any other men coming here. We also don't know if any other creatures heard the shots. They probably did. They could be on their way right now. We don't have time to wait."
That frightened Julie. Even Emily whimpered when she heard his words.
Scooter took a step toward her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I don't want to leave her like this, either," he said. "But Adam's right. And I don't think Alice would want us to do anything that might put us in danger."
Julie slowly nodded.
Without any more discussion, Adam led them all to the library door and stepped into the hallway. He looked up and down the hall, confident that no one was out there, but wanting to be cautious.
Then they exited the school.
The sun was bright overhead and Adam had to squint his eyes to get them to adjust.
"We should have lots of time to find a place to spend the night before it gets dark," he said. "We'll definitely get to the cars on the road out back. We can figure out what to do once we get there."
They started walking, side by side, across the school grounds to the top of the ditch.
When they got there, Adam turned around to look at the school. Besides a few broken windows, it was hard to see that anything bad had happened inside.
It looked normal.
"Come on," Claire said, pulling at his hand.
He turned and looked toward the forest.
Their next step.
Chapter 12
As they walked down the embankment, Adam had to stop himself from looking over at the dead bodies piled up at the bottom of it. He didn't want to see those types of things. Not now. Maybe not ever. He had seen too much already.
They all had.
He stopped before going into the forest and took a deep breath. "This is it," he said.
"This is it," everyone repeated.
He took another deep breath and led them forward.
Chapter 13
Adam had been too busy thinking about all that had happened to notice that Claire was still holding his hand. It was only when she pulled at him did he remember.
"Are you all right?" she asked, concern in her eyes.
"No," he replied.
"What's wrong?"
"I can't stop thinking."
"About what?"
"About everything. What happened. All of the people we killed. What we're going to do next."
Claire's grip tightened around his hand. "We didn't have a choice," she said.
He wasn't sure about that. "We could have just left," he said. "While the men were fighting with thosethings. Why didn't we just leave?"
Claire squeezed Adam's his hand even more. "Because we were fighting for what was ours," she answered.
"But we ended up leaving anyway."
"We didn't know that at the time."
"That doesn't make me feel any better."
Claire sighed. She didn't want him to worry about what they had done. "Those men would've come after us when they had seen that we were gone," she said. "There was no way that they were going to let us get away. You know that."
"I suppose."
Claire stopped and forced him to as well. She stared into his eyes. "No," she said. "Don'tsuppose. It's true. They wanted to kill us. We killed them instead. That's all there is to it."
But was that all there was to it? Adam wondered. He didn't know.
*
As they continued to walk, Adam thought more about the things they had done to the men at the school. He assumed that everyone else was thinking about it as well because no one was talking. They moved in silence, barely even looking in one another's direction.
The men. The creatures. The blood.
He squeezed Claire's hand this time to let her to know that he appreciated her trying to talk to him about it.And maybe she was right. Maybe they had needed to die. If they had lived, they would have come after him and his group. And when they had found them they would have…
Adam didn't let himself finish that thought.
They did what they needed to to survive.
Once more, Claire squeezed his hand back.
Chapter 14
No one knew how long it took them to walk out of the forest -they hadn't been paying attention -but now that they were out in the open, they could see that the sun would set in the next couple of hours.It was more than enough time to get to the cars.
Adam pointed ahead of him. "That way leads to a road. I'm not sure where that road goes, but there are cars on it, so I think there must be something like a town nearby. And if we're lucky…"
He didn't get to finish.
A man barged out of the forest with his hands raised over his head. "Don't leave me!" the man shouted. "Please!"
Though he was taken by surprise, Adam let go of Claire's hand and quickly levelled his gun.
The man came closer, arms flailing. "Don't leave me…pleeeease!"
When the man stopped in front of them, Adam could make out the dirt on his clothes, the wildness of his hair. He had a few weeks worth of growth on his face.
But no blood. That was the first thought Adam had.
His second was that the man looked familiar.
"Sam!" Shelly shouted. "That's Sam!"
Sam kept his arms raised above his head, but there was a look of relief on his face. It was as though he was glad to see the young girl and expected her to feel the same way. "Shelly," he said. "I can't believe that it's you!"
Shelly took a step toward him. It was then that Adam remembered the young woman was holding a gun.
"Shelly, stop!" he shouted. He could see that she had already raised to aim it at the man who had attacked her. "He's not worth it!"
"Not worth it? Don't you remember what he did to me?" the young girl asked. She kept her gun trained on Sam. “What hewanted to do!”
As soon as Sam saw it, he started to panic. His hands flapped in front of his face. His eyes opened wide. "That was before," he screamed. "I'm a changed man. I promise!"
Shelly took another step toward him, but Adam placed his hand on her shoulder and forced her to stop.
"He's not worth it," he said again. "You don't want to do this."
Shelly stared at Adam for a moment, struggling with his words.No,she thought,she did want to do this. She wanted Sam dead.
Yet, even with that, she lowered her gun.
"Good," Adam said. He turned to look back at Sam. "How did you know we were here?"
Sam looked uncomfortable, like he didn't want to answer. "I was…I…I was with those men that attacked the school."
"You were with Big Mike?" Claire asked.
Sam turned to her, more fear in his eyes now. "Yes…because I was afraid of being alone. He said that he was going to take care of me. He said..."
Adam interrupted. "I don't care what he said. You were part of the group that was trying to kill us."
"No, not me! I ran away when you started shooting at us. I didn't want any part of it. I didn't want to kill you. I didn't even know that itwas you."
There was something in the way that he spoke that Adam didn't believe was the truth. "You didn't know it was us? You didn't know that Shelly was in that school?"
"Well..." Sam sounded uncomfortable again. "I...well...I had heard that there was someone in the school who looked like Shelly. I thought that it might be her. But I didn't know."
"So you came to find out. And when we started shooting, you ran."
"I...well...no…it's…"
Adam didn't want to hear it anymore. He knew what Sam had wanted. And he knew what he would have done to her if things had worked out for him.
The thought of shooting Sam passed through his mind.Sam definitely deserved it. And no one in his group would care if he did. They might even be happy about it. He knew that Shelly would be.
And it was then that it hit him:He didn't want Shelly to be happy about something like that. She was too young. Too innocent.
He took his hand off his gun and pointed back toward the forest. "Get out of here!" he shouted. "Now!"
Sam looked stunned. "But I have nowhere to go. I need to stay with you. Please."
Without a word, Adam grabbed hold of his gun again, spun it around, and slammed the butt of it into Sam's face. Adam was sure that he had heard a crack and Sam's nose started to bleed.
Sam fell to the ground, his hands raised over his head. "No," he screamed with a muffled voice. "Please, don't. I wasn't going to hurt you. I didn't fight. I didn't shoot. I ran away!"
Adam looked down at the man on the ground. He could picture him like this back in Shelly's apartment. Adam had thrown him to the floor and had scared him out of the apartment. But he had come back.
Maybe Claire was right,he thought. Maybe guys like this would always come back until the got what they were looking for.
Adam felt the gun in his hand. He thoughts shifted back to killing him. It would be simple. He could just shoot and be done with it.
Yet, Adam didn't want to kill anymore. There had already been too much killing as it was.
"Get out of here," he said. "And don't come looking for us again."
"I...but..."
Adam brought the butt of his gun down on Sam's shoulder. There was another loud crack and Sam screamed out in pain. He dropped further to the ground and his hands went from over his head to his shoulder.
"Get out of here," Adam screamed again. "Now!"
Sam looked up at Adam. There were tears in his eyes. Pain. And fear. "Please let me come with you. I..."
Adam raised his gun again, but didn't bring it down. "This is your last chance. I'm not going to tell you again."
Sam opened his mouth to argue, but then thought better of it. He got to his feet, keeping hold of his shoulder. Blood dripped onto his shirt from his nose.
He glanced at Adam, hoping for some compassion. None came.
He turned and, without any more pleading, ran back into the forest.
Once he was gone, Claire was the first to speak. "Why did you let him go?" she asked. "You know that he's only going to keep coming back."
"I don't think he's going to bother us anymore," Adam disagreed.
"He might not even survive his wounds," Marianne added. "If you broke his shoulder that is."
Adam turned to look at the woman. He hadn't thought of that. But maybe she was right. He decided not to worry about it.If the man died, so be it.
He turned to Shelly. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't let you do it. It wouldn't have been right."
Tears built up in the young girl's eyes. "But remember what he did?"
"I remember. I'll never forget. The thing is we have to be better than men like him. We have to be stronger. And to kill only when we need to."
"I know," Shelly said slowly. "But…"
"He's not going to come back. I'm sure of it."
Before she could say anything else, Adam hugged her. She hugged him back. Then she buried her face into his shoulder and started to cry.
As he stood there, Adam wasn't sure if he had made the right decision. He didn't think that Sam was going to bother them anymore, but he'd probably bother the next group of people that he came upon. And if he managed to find a young women, well, Adam knew what Sam would do then.
It might have been best to have killed him.
There was nothing he could do about that now. He had let Sam go.
Adam kept his arms around Shelly until her crying stopped.
Chapter 15
They stepped onto the road, tired and exhausted.
"Time to take a break," Adam said. He placed his backpack onto the ground. The others followed suit. Their hands were quickly in their bags to take out what food they had brought.
"So which way will we go?" Scooter asked, pointing down each direction of the road. He popped one of Marianne's mini-cakes into his mouth.
Each way seemed as good as the other, Adam thought. But instead of saying that, he made a decision. "We should go that way," he said, pointing past the pile of cars that sat in the middle of the road. "Everyone okay with that?"
They were.
"Let's finish eating first," Scooter said, crumbs shooting out of his mouth.
Adam laughed. The others joined in.
Chapter 16
Jane stood on the top of a hill overlooking the road. She could see a group of people walking down it. And, even though she was far away from them, she was certain that it was Adam and the others. She could see that they had picked some people up a long the way too.More survivors. More people like them.Well, not like her. She didn't think that they'd be like her. They weren't haunted by their family members. They weren't losing their minds. They'd be fine. Normal.There was even a dog.
Jane took a deep breath to steady herself. She could feel a wave of emotions coming upon her. And she knew that they'd be difficult to handle.
Lately, her emotions had all but paralyzed her. They came on strong. And they came on fast.
Jane continued to look at the group, but she focused on Charles. He must be having difficulty keeping up with everyone.Not that he'd complain about it. He rarely did. He just kept pushing and pushing himself.
With that, she felt an urge to run down and help him. To put her hand underneath his arm and guide him forward.
But she couldn't get herself to move. Not yet. She simply wasn't ready.
She looked at Robert next. There was no wagon. He was walking beside Shelly. The young girl held the little boy's hand.
Jane felt a bit of jealousy over that, then admonished herself for it.She had chosen to leave.Robert wasn't choosing Shelly over herself.
But still, she felt a bit jealous.
It would feel so good to run down there and hug him, she thought. She could picture his little arms wrapped around her neck. She could hear his little voice as he told her that he loved her. She loved him too.She really did.
Again, she couldn't get herself to move.
She looked at the other members of the group. She couldn't make out their faces, but she was starting to see their bodies a little better. She could see that there were two new women and a man.
And there was a little girl.
At the sight of her, Jane's heart stopped and she couldn't breathe. She stared at the little girl. Her long blonde hair draped over her shoulders and covered most of her face. One of the women was carrying her.
Jane thought of her own daughter. Not heractual daughter. But the one who had been haunting her. She would be around the same size. Probably the same age.
Jane felt frightened. She felt anger. She felt sad.
Yet, more than anything, she felt longing. She wanted to run down the hill. Wanted to rejoin the group. She was sure that they would accept her back. She had talked to Adam about her problems. He would understand. And she knew that Charles and Robert wouldn't hold anything against her.
Though, once more, she couldn't do it.She wasn't ready. Her ghosts hadn't gone.
Jane had only left a few days ago. She had hoped to fight away her nightmares. And she had tried. But she hadn't been able to do much about them. Her dead husband and daughter still came to her. More and more often as well.
She bit her lip and wrung her hands together.
She would give anything to go down there and be with them.
Anything.
She missed them so much.
If she went,she told herself,they might be able to help. She wasn't sure what they could do. None of them were trained in this. None of them could even understand what she was going to. But they could try.
Jane felt another rush of emotions.
Desire. Anger. Jealousy. Fear. Sadness.
Unfortunately, she rarely felt happiness. That was one emotion that eluded her. It simply wouldn't come. She tried to think of good memories, but they only brought tears. She tried to think of a positive future, but that only made her worry that she’d never have one.
She felt tears
come to her eyes.
No, happiness was a long way off.
Before she knew what was happening, she took a step forward. Then another.
She wasn't anywhere near the group. But she had gotten closer.
If only she could get herself to run! To get down to them as fast as she could. They'd be able to…
"Mommy," a voice came from behind her. "You can't leave me, silly goose. You just can't!"
Jane kept her eyes on the group walking down the road. She didn't need to turn to know that her daughter would be standing there; her husband too.Would they be covered in blood? Would their faces be cut and bruised? Every time it was different. And every time it made her sick.
"Leave me alone," she said. He voice broke as she talked. She could barely keep the tears from pouring down her cheeks. "Please."
"What was that, mommy?" her daughter asked. "I couldn't hear you. Speak up, please."
"I said, leave me alone." Again her voice broke.
"Oh, mommy, you silly goose, I still couldn't hear you."
Jane didn't want to repeat herself. She knew that it wasn't going to do any good.
She closed her eyes and her tears ran down her face, falling off onto her shirt, onto the the ground. She lowered her head and started to sob.
"Oh, mommy," her daughter called out to her. "Don't cry. Everything will be okay."
"Yes, darling, everything will be okay," another voice agreed.Her husband.
She continued to cry.
Her life had fallen apart.She was being haunted by her family.A family that she had loved so much. They had meant everything to her. And she had done everything she could have to make them happy. Now, here they were, making her life a living hell. It was as though they were trying to get revenge on her for something. She wasn't sure what.
"Don't cry, mommy," Becky said again. "Please don't."
Jane ignored her. She had to. She couldn't keep listening to everything they said. It was driving her mad. She wished that they would leave her alone.
She found the strength to open her eyes, but still didn't look behind her. She wasn't strong enough.
She looked once more down at the road at the travellers. She could run to them.She could. They'd accept her. They'd help her. She knew it. She didn't know if they'd be able to do much good. But that didn't matter.
Glory (Book 5) Page 16
