“No, I really don’t,” she agreed. “Which is funny in a morbid way, because we’re living in one. But in my defense, I was nine at the time. At that age, I definitely couldn’t handle horror movies.”
Brandt cracked a genuine smile, and satisfaction settled into her gut. Her mission was accomplished. She’d dragged her friend away from whatever dark pit he’d been staring into. She gently released his hand and patted him on the knee. “So what should we do now?” she asked casually, leaning to look off the side of the stairs. Theo must have come out of the dining room at some point, because he was just below, sorting through his ever-present navy-blue bag of medical supplies, a deep frown on his face as he shoved first aid equipment around inside it.
Brandt shrugged and flexed his fingers, staring down at the hand Cade had held, as if he couldn’t believe her hands were no longer there. “Pack?” he suggested, standing and sighing heavily. “We’ll probably be moving soon, so we need to go ahead and get everything ready.”
Cade’s own shoulders slumped as she too rose to her feet. For reasons unknown, she felt like she’d been dismissed. It was a ridiculous feeling; Brandt was still likely emotionally rattled by the pending trip to Atlanta, and he’d never been very good at expressing his emotions. She knew this, just like she knew nearly everything about his life from before the outbreak. Which was why she didn’t understand the feeling of dismissal she had. She shook the sensation off and motioned with a hand.
“Come on, then,” she said. “You can help me get all the guns packed up. I’m not lugging those damned heavy bags around by myself.”
* * *
Theo jammed a can of beef stew into the duffel bag on the counter, trying to stuff it in amongst the other cans and packages of food he’d already managed to fit inside. He was frustrated, and it showed in the way he packed the bags of food—as if the cans of tomato and chicken noodle soups and canned meats and ravioli had caused him some great injury. It took almost everything in him to not chuck one of the cans across the room. He set the can onto the counter—a bit more heavily than he intended—and breathed in, slowly and deeply. He was shaking. He closed his eyes and gripped the edge of the counter, trying to calm himself down.
“Are you okay?” a soft, unfamiliar voice asked from behind him.
Theo took another moment to himself before he opened his eyes and turned around. Avi stood just inside the kitchen doorway, looking uncertain and sheepish.
“I was just…I came to see if you needed a hand with anything,” Avi tried to explain awkwardly. “If I’m interrupting something—”
Theo shook his head and motioned for her to come inside. “No, no. It’s okay. I was just thinking too much. I’m fine.” He cleared his throat, looking back down at the bag. “I’m just working on packing food for the trip.”
Avi joined Theo at the counter and gave him a small smile. She watched for a moment as he tried to fit the can of stew into the bag again before speaking. “You really might want to think about getting another bag for that. I don’t think it’s going to fit.”
He huffed out a breath, blowing his long blond bangs out of his face, and gave her a shrug. “Yeah, I know. Ethan said we only have room for about five bags of food. I’m trying to fit as much as I can into each bag.”
“The bags are kind of small,” she commented quietly, picking up the last empty one and peering into it.
Theo swallowed. “There’s almost not enough food to go around,” he confessed.
“Because I’m here?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head again and zipping the bag closed. “No, it’s not you. We were getting low on food before you got here. Ethan and Cade think I’m not aware of it, but considering I keep tabs on everyone’s health, I figured it out pretty quick. They’ve both dropped weight, noticeably in Cade’s case. She’s lost at least seven pounds in the past few weeks, if I had to take a guess at it.” He rested both hands flat on the bag, feeling the rough material under his fingers. “I think they’re cutting back on their food for everyone else’s sake.”
“That’s very noble of them,” Avi commented.
He dragged the heavy bag off the counter and dumped it on the floor beside the kitchen door. “No, it’s very stupid,” he corrected. “Incredibly stupid. If they get malnourished, that increases their chances of getting sick. And I don’t have the proper equipment or resources to deal with that.” He sighed and shook his hair out of his eyes again. “Not to mention, it does nothing to keep their strength up.” He returned to the counter and began packing the last bag. “I write out meal plans for a reason,” he muttered, almost to himself.
Avi passed him a can of clam chowder. “You must have the hardest job out of everyone here,” she said sympathetically. “Even more so than Ethan. His job might be to lead all of you, but your job is to keep them—including Ethan—healthy and alive.”
“It is a hard job,” he agreed, “especially when everyone here is stubborn as a fucking mule.” He grimaced. “Sometimes I feel like my mother. ‘Eat your vegetables. Clean your plate. I put that food there, and you’re going to eat it or I’ll shove it up your ass.’ I’m not old enough for this shit.” He chuckled and shook his head. Even Avi let out a soft laugh. A comfortable silence fell between them as they packed the food, Avi passing boxes and cans to Theo and Theo stuffing them into the bag, grimacing as he played what amounted to a complicated game of Tetris with the groceries.
“So Cade says that Gray is your brother?” Avi asked. Theo glanced at her, but she was focused on the box of breakfast pastries in her hands.
“Yeah, my younger brother,” he said. “The only family I’ve got left.”
She gave him a slight smile. “You’re incredibly lucky, you know,” she said. “I don’t think there are a lot of siblings left like you two. I think you’re only the third or fourth set I’ve met.”
“Third or fourth?” he repeated, surprised. “That’s all?”
“The attrition rate is very high,” Avi said cryptically. “Nothing that can be helped.” She passed him the pastries, and he stuck the package into his bag. The silence that fell this time was heavier, laden with tension and unspoken questions. “Gray’s the only reason you’re going, isn’t he?” she asked, breaking the silence again.
“Honestly? Yes.” Theo rubbed a hand over his cheek, scratching through his beard. “I have to protect him, you know? I mean, he’s my baby brother. I grew up kicking bullies’ asses for him, and now I fight the infected for him.” He shrugged helplessly. “He’s only going because of Remy. I don’t think he considered my feelings on the matter. He should have known I’d follow him in, even if I didn’t want to go.”
Avi leaned against the counter and rested her elbows on the tile. “Are he and Remy seeing each other?”
He barked out a laugh and rested back against the counter, crossing his arms. “Oh, hell no. Gray’s too chicken shit to approach Remy about how he feels, and she refuses to get involved in a relationship with anyone.”
“I can kind of understand that, though,” Avi said. “Relationships tend to end…badly nowadays.”
“To put it delicately,” Theo murmured.
Avi laughed. “Yeah, definitely putting it delicately,” she agreed. “I can see why she’s not getting involved with anyone. I’m a lot the same way, though I’m not going to lie and say it wouldn’t be nice.” She shrugged. “If the right situation and the right person came up, who knows?”
“Same,” he said, shaking his hair back from his face. “If I make it out of Atlanta in one piece, I think I’d like to find someone out there. Even if just to have a spot of happiness in the world, you know?” He chuckled again and sighed. “I wouldn’t mind having kids someday, even adopted ones. I love kids. Always wanted some. And I figure there are going to be an awful lot of orphaned children out there that need my help.”
She gave him a little smile. “Me, too. I mean, I’m thirty. Definitely not getting any younger, and the world isn’t getting
any better.”
Theo was surprised to learn that she was older than him by five years. He’d thought she was closer to Gray’s age. He chose to not comment on that, though; instead, he looked sadly at the floor. “You never really see kids anymore, though. At all. I see the occasional one in the groups of people we’ve dragged out of infected areas, but there haven’t been that many.”
“I know,” Avi said quietly. “I think it’s because the virus hit the kids and the elderly really hard. The few kids left after that usually didn’t last long around the infected.”
“Yeah, Cade had a niece,” he said. “A little four-year-old girl. She got infected. Nikola told me that Ethan had to shoot her last year when she attacked them.”
“God, that’s horrible. Killing a child, even an infected one…” She trailed off and shook her head. “Terrible.”
“Yeah, well, that’s the life we live now. Not much that can be done about it.” He heaved a sigh. “So let’s wrap up all this packing, yeah? I’ve got plenty of other things I need to do after this and not much time to do it in.”
Chapter Five
Late that evening, Theo crouched on the shingled roof, squinting through the glare of the setting sun, trying to make out the street below. It wasn’t actually his turn to be on watch. But he was too tightly wound up to even contemplate taking a nap like he’d planned, so he’d gotten up and climbed through the dormer window onto the roof. He figured he’d keep Gray company while his younger brother was on watch; he knew from experience that sitting alone on the roof for hours was the dullest experience ever.
But even as he sat there, Theo’s mind kept drifting back to thoughts of Avi and her proposition. He didn’t want to go to Atlanta. He’d never been there before, not even prior to the Michaluk Virus’s explosion. But at the same time…well, he couldn’t deny the possibility that there were people inside the city to help. He liked helping people; growing up, he’d always been that way. He was the type of kid who’d intervened to help others being bullied on the playground in elementary school, the type of man who pulled over to help stranded motorists with flat tires or engine troubles. It was his nature, part of why he’d become a paramedic in the first place. And it was a part of his nature that warred against the common sense that told him to not go into Atlanta, Georgia.
But Gray was going. And therefore, he had no choice.
Theo got up and moved slowly around to the side of the house, walking carefully up the sloped roof and squinting through the dimming light at the assortment of vehicles parked around the house. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. There was no sign of infected anywhere, and everything was quiet. He walked on to the back of the house, where Gray kept watch over the back yard.
“Hey,” he greeted, crouching down for balance against the slant of the roof and giving his brother a smile. He rested his arms against his knees and mentally noted how tired Gray looked. He’d obviously not been sleeping well, judging by the paleness of his skin and the dark circles under his eyes.
“Hey,” Gray replied. He didn’t look at Theo, simply kept his silvery blue eyes locked attentively on the ground.
“All quiet over here?” he asked. He shifted to get comfortable on the still-sun-warmed rooftop, sitting on the shingles and stretching out his legs, crossing his ankles and leaning back on his hands. The position reminded him of late last summer, not long after the group had arrived at the safe house. He’d climbed onto the roof for watch and stumbled across Cade, Remy, and Nikola, their shirts tied up to expose their midriffs, shorts showing off their long legs, talking as they enjoyed the sun. The only thing that marred the scene was the large, intimidating rifle lying on the roof between Cade and Remy. Despite that, it’d been a nice sight, reminiscent of life before the virus, and he still remembered the embarrassment he’d felt when they caught him staring and teased him mercilessly for three days.
Gray shrugged and leaned forward as Theo shook himself loose from the memory. “About as quiet as can be expected, considering all the excitement.” His eyes scanned the back yard, following the fence line at the border of the property. “No sign of anything unusual.”
“That’s good.” Theo sat back and trailed his own eyes over the neighboring houses. They really had picked an excellent house to hide in, he thought. There’d never been any sign of the infected anywhere too close to it, and it was easy to get into and out of with their vehicles, the street mostly clear of debris and stalled cars. Plenty of storage, reasonably easy to defend, and not too many trees. He couldn’t have asked for anything better at this point.
He peered at his silent brother out of the corner of his eye and wondered what was on his mind. It wasn’t like Gray to be so quiet. He usually had trouble getting him to shut up. He raised an eyebrow and asked conversationally, as casually as he could, “So. You and Remy?”
“What about me and Remy?” Gray asked. His tone was carefully neutral, as if he didn’t care what the topic of conversation actually was. The way he said it told Theo almost everything he needed to know.
“Well, have you talked to her yet?” he prompted. Gray refused to look at him, keeping his eyes on the fence line as if he were suddenly fascinated by the intricacies of fence construction.
“Not really. Haven’t had the time,” Gray said, shrugging and standing to stretch his legs.
Theo let out an exasperated breath. “Wait a minute. You two were alone for most of the day before yesterday, nobody around to even think about interfering with any conversation you could possibly have with her, and you…didn’t have time to talk to her?”
“What the hell am I supposed to say?” Gray asked, rolling his eyes and shaking his head before sitting back down on the roof. “I don’t think she wants a relationship, Theo. I overheard her talking to Cade last week about how relationships weren’t worth putting the time into anymore, that as soon as you fall in love with somebody, they end up getting killed. She doesn’t want anything like that, and it’s not worth me getting stressed out over, okay?”
“I still think it’s worth a try,” Theo persisted. “I mean, you two obviously care for each other and—”
“Did you see that?” Gray interrupted, swiping his hand to signal for him to shut up.
“Oh, come on, Gray. You think I’m going to fall for that?” Even as Theo spoke, his brain registered the note of urgency in Gray’s voice that hadn’t been there before. He sat up straighter and followed his brother’s gaze. “Did I see what?” he asked, his eyes darting around the back yard. He couldn’t see anything; all was perfectly still and quiet. “Did I see what, Gray?” Urgency crept up his spine to tickle at the back of his neck as he rose to take a knee. “What did you see?”
“I’m not sure,” Gray said, slowly and uncertainly. He stared into the shadows of the yard intently. “I don’t know what it was. It was just…I don’t know. Something moved down there.”
“Maybe it was a dog?” he suggested. Packs of formerly domesticated dogs had taken up with strays to roam the streets, attacking nearly anything and everything at will. It wouldn’t have been the first time they were startled by a wild dog while on watch. Theo turned to look in the direction opposite the one Gray was staring in, searching for anything resembling movement below.
“No, I don’t think so. It was too big to be a dog,” Gray answered distractedly.
Even as he spoke, the sound of breaking glass shattered the quiet evening. Theo twisted around, his eyes wide, his heart lurching into his throat. “That came from the front,” he said breathlessly. He scrambled to his feet and ran awkwardly to the other side of the roof, pawing at his jacket frantically as he moved, unzipping it and retrieving his gun from its holster underneath.
Once he reached the peak of the roof, Theo slid down the slope to the edge, dragging his feet on the shingles to slow his rapid descent. He crawled onto his knees and looked down.
What Theo saw on the ground below made his heart stutter in his chest.
* * *
Brandt and Cade were involved in a deep discussion of plans for once the group got to Atlanta when the sound of breaking glass interrupted their conversation. Cade startled as plate glass hit the porch, and she jumped to her feet, facing the door and grabbing one of her pistols. “What the hell was that?” she demanded, her eyes wide as she stared at the door.
“Sounded like the glass from the window by the door,” Brandt said. He stood with her and picked up his own gun. He seemed much calmer than she felt, a fact that made her a bit envious. She wished she had the ability to be so at ease when facing a potential fight. Brandt edged up to the door and looked through the peephole. Something slammed against the other side of the door, and he jerked back and raised his gun, pointing it at the closed door.
“What? What is it?” Cade asked. She made sure the magazine was fully loaded before sliding it back into her weapon with a click. She didn’t like Brandt’s reaction; it almost always meant something bad was about to happen.
“It’s them,” Brandt said hoarsely. He backed across the creaky floorboards, away from the door, grabbing Cade by the upper arm and hauling her a few steps backward. She wrenched her arm from his grasp. “There are a lot of them,” he warned.
“That’s not something I want to hear,” she said, unfastening her belt and pulling it halfway out of the loops to slide a holster onto it. Once the leather holster was securely in place, she looked back at him. “How many?” she demanded.
Ground Zero Page 9