“That’s a lot easier said than done,” Will said. “I’ve made a lot of decisions since all this started. Some have been easy, and some haven’t. But with that comes the responsibility to be there for these people.” He looked into Holly’s resting face. “Because I love them so much.”
“I understand. Believe me, I do.”
The doctor went to the corner of the room where there was an old wooden rocking chair. He slumped down into it with a sigh.
“That letter you gave me before you left: all that stuff really true?”
Turning his focus back to Timothy, Will said, “Every damn bit of it.”
“Why did you wait until you were leaving to tell me?” Timothy asked.
Will turned his eyes to the floor, thinking. “I just wasn’t totally sure I could trust you.”
“I can understand that,” Timothy said. “That’s a pretty surreal story to expect somebody to believe.”
“But you do believe it.”
“Yeah, I do,” Timothy said. “I sat at the edge of my bed and read that letter several times. Each time, I tried to convince myself that you were making all that stuff up. But after going through it so many times, I just couldn’t bring myself to reason why you’d lie to me about something like that.”
“Have you told anybody else about it?” Will asked.
“Just Samantha,” Timothy said. “She found it hard to believe at first, too. She read the letter three times and I couldn’t get her to say anything. Eventually, she looked up at me and just asked me what we’re going to do. I told her I wasn’t sure, and to be honest with you, we still haven’t decided. We don’t really know how to share the information with everyone.”
Will thought about it and then said, “Would you like me to tell them myself? If you guys think it’s best for them to know.”
“What makes you think these people who hardly know you are going to believe it?”
Will looked down to his arm, covered by a long sleeve shirt. For the first time in what had seemed like hours, he let go of Holly’s hand. He realized in that moment just how much moisture had gathered on his palm, and how cramped it was from holding her grip. He used that free hand to roll up his shirt sleeve. Then he held his arm out where Timothy could see it.
“Because I can show them this.”
Chapter 3
Gabriel lay on the bed, looking up at the stars. They weren’t real stars. The people from this surprisingly quiet little community had placed him in a room that had once belonged to a young boy. The walls were painted blue, covered with superheroes and famous professional football players. The glow-in-the-dark star stickers on the ceiling would have been distracting if he slept on his back, but luckily he was a side-sleeper. That being said, sleep had been out of the question with his mind racing.
He wondered how he could be just sitting in some little boy’s room when he was finally so close to home. Several times during the night, he had thought to just leave. He could have just sneaked downstairs and walked right out the front door, or crawled through the window and hopped off the edge of the roof. But instead, he’d decided to wait it out. If there was anything he’d learned during this journey, it was that traveling at night was stupid, traveling alone was difficult, and traveling alone at night was damn near suicide.
But as he lay there on the child’s bed, looking around at all his fun childish things, he couldn’t help but think about his own.
Daydreaming, he pictured himself in Sarah’s room. He had painted her room several times before she and Katie had settled on the soft lavender tone, which had been there since she was about five years old. Like the boy who had once occupied this room, Sarah had plastered her room with things she loved. While superheroes and professional athletes weren’t to her taste, Sarah had a love for all things fantastical. Dragons, unicorns, and anything having to do with English wizard schools piqued her interest. The girl had quite the imagination, and it always brought a smile to both Gabriel and Katie’s faces. Gabriel had been able to see his daughter being whatever she wanted, whether that was a doctor, a lawyer, a filmmaker, or even a bestselling novelist.
But that had been before.
Before The Fall.
Before the government, the economy, and humanity itself came crashing down.
Now Gabriel just hoped he would see his daughter again. And with all the things that had happened to him, it was becoming harder and harder to convince himself that he ever would.
Outside, he could hear children shouting. Finally, he sat up and went to the window, pushing aside the Batman curtains.
Down in one of the nearby yards, he saw several kids playing. A few others headed out through the front door of the same house, including Dylan and Mary Beth. Seeing Dylan with a smile on his face brought one to Gabriel’s own. As much as he missed his own family, Dylan had become like a son to him. It tore at him to see the boy’s arm missing, as he hadn’t had to work hard to convince himself things would’ve been different had he been there. That he would have done something that Will hadn’t to make sure the boy hadn’t been bitten. Deep down, he knew he shouldn’t feel that way. He was just happy the boy was okay, and he knew Will had been feeling enough guilt from the situation just from how he’d talked about it. But the thought still crossed his mind.
A knock came at the door, and Gabriel closed the curtains.
“Come in.”
The door swung open and Will appeared.
“How’s everything going?” Will asked.
Gabriel shrugged. “You tell me. How’s Holly?”
“Exhausted. She’s all good, just wants to sleep. The doctor finally convinced me to get out and take a walk. He gave me this in case she wakes.” Will lifted the tail of his shirt to show a walkie-talkie on his waist.
“I’m sure she’ll wake up soon,” Gabriel said. He gestured toward the window. “Looks like the kids are doing fine.”
“Yeah, almost as if everything is normal. Kinda crazy to think that’s such a big deal, huh?”
Gabriel scoffed. “Yeah.”
“Hey, listen,” Will said. “Timothy wants to have us over for dinner tonight. Just our little group and his wife. No one else. You think you’ll be able to make it?”
Shaking his head, Gabriel said, “I don’t know.”
“Look, man, I know you’re ready to get out of here—and we’re going to. But you should really try to rest and eat while you’re here. You’re gonna need it for when we hit the road.”
“And when’s that gonna be?”
“As soon as Holly’s ready to travel.”
“If you trust these people so much, why don’t you just leave her here with them while we ride into Alexandria to find my family?”
Will sighed. “I’m not doing that again. We’ve already split from you twice, and look where that’s gotten us.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Gabriel said, allowing a sniping tone into his voice.
“You know what, man? I know you’re upset and you’re anxious to get out of here, but you need to chill out. I’m trying here, Gabriel.”
“Chill out?” Gabriel moved from the window to stand in front of Will. “Do you know what the fuck I’ve been through? No, you don’t have any idea what kind of hell that school was. You don’t know what it was like to be held against your will in some classroom-turned-prison cell. To have a guard who wanted nothing more than to kill you coming by to check in on you several times a day and threaten to take your life. To watch your friend be dragged out onto a football field with both of his fucking legs chopped off and try to fight those monsters in a wheelchair, knowing full-well there was no way he was going to survive.”
“Look, Gabriel, listen—”
“No, you listen. I don’t wanna fucking hear it. All you managed to do was help Dylan lose his arm while I was gone.”
Will’s expression changed, his face turning beet-red and his breathing coming on heavy. Gabriel looked down to see Will clinch his fists, and anticipated the first sh
ot.
But instead of hitting Gabriel, Will simply shook his head and turned around. He slammed the door on his way out, never saying anything.
Gabriel, his own blood boiling, sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed. He buried his face into his hands as he tried to calm down. Then he lay back down on the bed and faced the ceiling, looking up at the stars again while he waited to cool down.
He still never slept.
Chapter 4
Will circled the cul-de-sac, blowing off steam after his conversation with Gabriel. He kept his head down, trying to ignore the other people outside.
He knew how anxious Gabriel was to leave, but his friend’s insensitivity toward Holly’s injury still upset him. And it was almost as if Gabriel had forgotten how Holly had sustained the injury in the first place.
Will was at the end of the street when the two-way radio on his waist crackled to life.
“Will?”
He pulled the walkie off his waist. “Timothy?”
“I think she’s about to wake up,” the doctor said. “Get over here.”
Without responding, Will ran to the house where Holly was being treated, bowling through the door without knocking. He saw her lying there, her hands moving.
And as promised, Will was holding Holly’s hand when she woke up from her long nap. He smiled and ran his hand through her hair as she opened her eyes.
“Hey,” he said.
“How long have I been sleeping?” Holly asked.
“It seems like days. The sun will be going down soon. You’ve slept for probably ten hours, at least.”
Holly rubbed her forehead and wiped her eyes. Once she shifted, she felt the pain in her wounded shoulder and grimaced.
“Easy,” Will said.
“It’s all right. It doesn’t hurt that bad. Not as much as I thought it would.”
“You just need to be easy with it.”
Timothy entered the room, wiping his hands with a towel.
“Look who’s awake,” he said.
Holly smiled at the doctor.
“How’re you feeling?”
“There is a dull pain in my shoulder, but mostly it only hurts if I jerk too much.”
“That’s good,” Timothy said.
She grimaced again, reaching for her lower back. “I’m really stiff. Is it possible that I could get up and walk around?”
“That should be fine.” Timothy looked to Will. “You’ll be with her, I assume?”
“Of course,” Will said.
Will went around to Holly’s good side and placed his hand under her, lifting up as she held onto him. She cried out in pain, either from her back or her wound, or maybe even both—Will wasn’t sure.
When she finally made it to her feet, she almost fell over, but then she just laughed, saying that her legs were asleep.
“You’re still coming to dinner tonight, right?” Timothy asked.
“Absolutely,” Will said.
“Looks like you might be able to make it, too,” Timothy said to Holly.
“Dinner sounds really good.”
They had put her in a room on the bottom floor of the house, making it only a short trip down a hallway before they arrived at the front door. A cool breeze hit them as the door swung open and instantly began to dry the sweat on Will’s face. It was a cool night which only reminded Will that soon the days would turn cold, bringing with them chilling winds and snowfall. What would this place be like then? The community had already started going out to collect wood, chopping down trees throughout the neighborhood. It was going to be a tough winter for the survivors there regardless. But what would come of Will and the others if they didn’t make it down to Florida in time? Assuming, of course, that was still in the plans.
“It’s such a gorgeous night out,” Holly said.
Will held the hand on her good arm as they walked down the driveway to the sidewalk. Most people had retreated to their houses, except for the group still working on the fence.
Two houses down a door opened, and Dylan and Mary Beth appeared on the porch. Holly smiled when she saw them.
The children ran toward her, and Jessica came walking out of the house behind them, shutting the door and then crossing her arms as she watched the children race to Holly.
“Holly!” they each called out.
Will stuck out his palms to force some distance. “Easy, kids. She’s still in a lot of pain.”
Dylan made it to her first and wrapped his arm around her. Mary Beth followed, hugging her gently from the other side.
With the children reuniting with Holly, Will glanced back to Jessica standing on the front porch of the house. Her arms were still crossed and she was forcing a smile, her eyes narrowed.
“You good for a minute?” Will asked Holly.
“Yeah,” she said with a laugh as the children continued to hug her. “I think I’m good.”
Will excused himself from Holly and the kids, walking toward the house. He climbed up to the middle step leading to the porch and leaned on the wooden bannister.
“How’re you doing?” he asked.
“Fine,” Jessica mumbled. She leaned against the wall, her arms still crossed, making her look like a recluse.
“Are you really?” Will asked.
She shrugged.
Will walked the rest of the way up the steps and sat down on one of the rocking chairs. He gestured for her to sit next to him, but she just shook her head in return.
“You’re not going to talk to me?”
“Other people have been trying to talk to me all day and I’m just not in the mood,” she replied.
“Yeah, well, I’m not those ‘other people’. I’m your friend.”
Jessica sighed. “It’s just so strange being here. One moment I’m in a prison, and the next I’m in this place where people are living an end of the world fairy tale.” She looked around to all the houses. Across the street, a woman was pulling weeds from a flower bed. Next door to the gardener, a couple stood outside on a porch swing chatting with each other. A man down the street was hitting plastic golf balls in his front yard. “It’s like this entrapped suburban paradise and these people have no freakin’ clue what it’s really like out there.”
“They do,” Will said. “They haven’t been through what we have, but they know more about the outside world than they let on. The trick is that Timothy has done a really good job of masking it. He’s tried to create as much ‘normal’ as possible, and he’s done a pretty good job.”
“I’d say so,” Jessica added.
“I can’t even imagine what this adjustment has been like for you,” Will said, a certain warmth in his voice. “I know it’s hard for you and Gabe to try and come back to some kind of reality, whatever the hell that even means anymore.”
“It’s not this,” Jessica said. “Especially since we’re leaving it.”
“You know, you don’t have to go with us.”
She narrowed her eyes. “And what would I do? Stay here with these people? With these suburban housewives?”
“I’m not suggesting I want you to stay. All I’m saying is that it’s an option.”
She looked away from him, staring off at something in the distance. “I have nothing left, Will. You, the kids, Gabriel, and Holly: you’re my family now. There’s nothing for me in this place.”
Will nodded, then changed the subject. “Timothy wants us over for dinner tonight. You gonna make it? I’d really appreciate if you were there.”
“Yeah, I’ll be there. A girl’s gotta eat, right?”
Will chuckled. “Right.”
Charlie appeared at the end of the street, wiping sweat from his brow. His white T-shirt was stained black, and he looked exhausted. He smiled as he walked up to Holly and the children, though, placing his hand on Holly’s good shoulder.
“I’m going to go check in and see what he’s up to,” Will said, standing from his chair.
“All right,” Jessica said. “You got the kid
s? I think I’m going to go lie down for a while before dinner.”
Will nodded. “Of course. Go ahead. They want us there at 7, so don’t be late.”
“Thank you.”
Will crossed the porch and gave Jessica a hug before he went down the stairs and headed toward the group. Charlie met him halfway, and Will reached out for a handshake.
“I don’t think you want to shake my hand,” Charlie said. He stuck out his palms to show Will how dirty they were.
Will laughed. “You think with all the stuff I’ve done over the past few weeks that shaking your dirty hand is gonna bother me?”
Charlie shrugged and grasped Will’s hand.
Will gestured towards the end of the road. “How are things going out there?”
“Not too bad. We got most of the fence reinforced. I don’t think anything, or anyone, is going to get through there unless we want them to. Tomorrow I think I’m going to go out there with a couple of the guys and see about getting some more firewood. Gonna be getting cold soon.”
“There’s no guarantee that we’ll still be here tomorrow.” He thought back to his conversation with Gabriel, and knew they would need to leave as soon as Holly was able. If not, Gabriel might fall off the deep end.
“Yeah, well, if we are, I’d like to help out as long as I can.”
Will nodded. “Timothy invited us over for dinner tonight. I’m assuming you’ll be there.”
Smiling, Charlie said, “Wouldn’t miss it. I worked up quite the appetite. Plus, there’s this one fellow working on the fence with me named Gooch who about drove me damn crazy today. It’d be nice to hang around some of my friends.”
Will chuckled. “Well, you smell like shit. So if you’re going to be coming to dinner with us, you better go ahead and go clean up.”
Chapter 5
Will wasn’t surprised to find Gabriel and Jessica absent from the table when he, Holly, and the kids showed up for dinner. Charlie was already seated, sipping on a glass of water. He stood when Will entered the room and hugged him, and Will made a smart remark about how nice he’d cleaned up. Timothy entered from another room and shook Will’s hand, greeted the children, and kissed Holly on the cheek.
Empty Bodies Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 88
